Today, the next weeks of consideration and consultations with members of the musical community, Music Canada CEO Patrick Rogers published the following application in response to the Phase 1 CRTC decision on the original basic contributions.
Earlier this summer, the Canadian broadcasting regulator, The CRTC, announced that the services of streaming music will have to pay for unprecedented 5% of their Canadian income in support of the outdated broadcasting system. And almost half of this money will be used to support traditional radio. If it sounds like outdated thinking, it is because it is.
When CRTC launched his process for implementation Online -Potoko act (Bill C-11), they promised “An empty sheet of paperAn approach that will help them rethink the Canadian broadcasting system. Musical Canada encouraged them to “Turn each stone over“. If our broadcasting rules apply to stream gear, then we had to consider it as a process of regulation in which it was in generation. The structure necessary to reflect the power and competitiveness of streaming, if it was going to create new and significant opportunities for Canadian and local artists in the world streaming environment.
So it was a combination of a surprise, disappointment and confusion, we read the CRTC decision. If the CRTC was sure to set out with an empty page, he had old normative rules written on his back. At some moment in the process, faced with the incurability of the task, it seems that they simply turned the page.
The C -11 bill was developed in order to require streaming services of audio to pay for the Canadian broadcasting system, but 5% of the contribution rate staggers. For context, this is about 10 times, which is required for radiollists. And when you look at how 5% is divided, you see that 40% of them go to financing radio The industry is really mixed that such a large amount of money from streaming services, such as Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music, will be used to subsidize our radio industry.
We hope that CRTC will use this opportunity to modernize our system and find innovative ways to help artists achieve success in the global streaming market. Canadian and indigenous artists were bought up on global glory through the versatility of their music and coverage of a licensed streaming – and CRTC had the opportunity to rely on this success, putting artists, and not domestic industrial policy, in the center of its structure. Instead, the decision is focused on protecting outdated internal institutions. This is not that artists should succeed in a modern highly competitive, on request, streaming music market.
We asked the CRTC to carefully consider the existing investments made by the service of the streaming of music in Canada, and not to present the requirements that can be threatened. Local teams of musical platforms are supervised by playlists with the participation of Canadian and indigenous artists who are introduced by Canadians and a global audience with new votes; They teach artists and label teams about the best ways to use their platforms; They hold industry events and seminars. Simply put, these local teams – these investments – are an integral part of the growth of the Canadian musical industry and the success of its artists.
The solution ignores the role that licensed streaming plays in the growth of the industry and promotes the career of our artists. Paid streaming services of the subscription that royalties pay when playing music is what allows All Musical companies, large and small, reinvest in the next generation of Canadian and indigenous talents.
It is too early to know exactly what the consequences of this solution for the Canadian musical industry are. It is easy to predict that new expenses will be transferred to consumers, which can threaten the participation of Canadians in a licensed legal musical economy, which pays artists when their music plays.
But this can also cause a reduction in the investment of streaming services in our country – or, even worse, the outcome. If this happens, the CRTC decision will not be just a lost opportunity, it will be a natural disaster of cultural policy.
When we work on the next stage of the CRTC rules, Music Canada will continue to protect the best regulation system, which reflects how music is created and listens today and creates the greatest opportunities for Canadian and indigenous artists. We will learn more than when, the need to turn a new page – and resistance to thisField
