The Government of Canada could table the new version of Bill C-10 this afternoon, which aims to subject the digital platforms of the Web giants to the Broadcasting Act. The controversial bill was shelved when the federal election was called this summer.
For the music industry, the stakes are high. “The digital world is proving to be the main source of royalties and reproduction rights for our members,” recalls Martin Lavallée, senior legal counsel at the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN).
“Since 2015, the increase in revenue share from digital has jumped 571%. We are talking about a staggering increase,” he said. During this period, SOCAN’s revenues from digital platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Google Play increased from $15 million to $105 million.
However, the share of income that goes back into the pockets of Canadian and Quebec artisans has dropped. “In media such as television and radio, approximately 30% of revenues remain in Canada, which are therefore given to Canadians and Quebecers. In digital, it drops to 10% across Canada. And for Quebecers and Francophones, it’s worse: it drops to 2%. In other words: the offer of digital platforms absolutely does not cover our works. »
SOCAN, like other industry representatives, expects the new bill to extend the framework not just to streaming platforms, but to social media like YouTube. The platform that belongs to Google alone represents nearly 50% of listening in Canada: “The law on broadcasting must apply to all those who broadcast, whether it is a broadcasting platform or social media. »
Similar story from Jérôme Payette, Executive Director of the Association of Music Publishing Professionals (APEM), which represents 830 publishing houses with 400,000 French-speaking and Quebec musical works in the country: “The dissemination of same song on Spotify and on YouTube should be treated the same according to the law. That’s what we’ve always asked for. Otherwise [l’encadrement] don’t stand up”,
He adds: “I would be surprised if the government did not understand the inconsistency [de ne pas inclure les réseaux sociaux] in the first bill, which he later corrected. »
With the collaboration of Boris Proulx