Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This amendment ensures the protection of artists' moral rights within the user-generated content of mashups. Mashups are a sign of the times, the creation of new work based on the work that other artists have done.
The moral rights of an artist really need to be codified in this bill. The moral rights are that an artist should have the right to say how his or her work is used. They should have the right to say whether or not a song is used in a particular political campaign, as was the case with K'naan asking a Republican candidate to not play his song as part of the candidate's walk-on music. Something that has never really been codified as strongly as it should be is the moral right of a performer.
We're seeing the remuneration of performers being whittled down and we think it's really important that the moral right of a performer be protected and strengthened, especially in terms of mashups. Being able to use a performer's work or a combination of performers' works to generate your own thoughts, positive or negative.... As a performer myself, I should have the right to say, I don't want that to be used in that way.
Basically, this amendment goes to further protection of that in this clause.
I will....