I agree with you about the government intervention. I can tell you it was a shock to me to find out that the government paid my salary when I started writing music. I had no idea. I appeared before, at that time, the Copyright Appeal Board, and I looked at all these people who were getting paid a heck of a lot more than me and realized that there were three people up there who were determining what type of food my kids would eat and what clothes my wife would get. I of course never bought any.
How to ensure it? We've gone a far way. Federally, we've done status of the artist, which permits us to bargain on behalf of musicians. Mr. Conway's station, for example, is susceptible to that. We can go into Peterborough and we can ask the CAPPRT to have him sit down and bargain with us to make sure that those players are compensated properly, or different actions can take place.
We haven't gone around to every small town and done that. We can't. We have relied upon the community to determine that. So, yes, we are dependent on the local radio stations, we are dependent on the local theatres, we are dependent on the local clubs, and we have let the market take its place. That's why the supplemental income that these people need to keep going is so important to us. That's why the licensing to ensure that artists can continue, and continue without having their supplemental income diminished.... If they have a project they can go to a bank and get a loan—that this continue. The only way so far is through the licensing, either of the performance or the performing.
It is federally regulated; it is internationally regulated. When you look at WIPO, it's not something we're going to change, but it is something that we need to look at. We need to make sure that it remains rejuvenated, that it remains there as a level, and that there's an ability for all of our performers, all of our creators, to take part in it, so they can continue to present this country to the rest of us.