Thank you for this opportunity.
These are challenging times for creators and rights holders. We appreciate the work you've done, and continue to do, on the bill.
My name is Jim Vallance, and I'm vice-president of the Songwriters Association of Canada. I'm a multiple Juno award winner and a member of the Order of Canada. I've composed music for hundreds of performers, including Anne Murray, Paul Anka, Tina Turner, Bryan Adams, and Ozzy Osbourne. My songs have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide.
This was possible because my career largely occurred in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s—the decades before Napster.
Given the state of the industry in 2011, it's unlikely the next generation of Canadian songwriters will have the same opportunities I had. In fact much of our industry could disappear, as music creators are forced to seek other employment to make ends meet. The loss to Canadian culture could be incalculable: no more Shania Twains, no more Luc Plamondons.
Let me digress for a moment. For the better part of 100 years, British Columbia had a prosperous commercial fishing industry. Suddenly, a few years ago, the salmon failed to materialize. The consequences were devastating. Jobs were lost. Fishermen were bankrupted. Boats were sold. The scientists at the Department of Fisheries were baffled, unable to explain the anomaly. Quite simply, the fish were gone, and no one knew why or where.
The music industry is experiencing a similarly devastating crisis, each year being worse than the last. But unlike the fishing industry, we don't need to consult scientists: we know where our songs are. Every minute of every day, millions of our songs are being shared online.
Never in history has music been so popular or so accessible. It should be a golden era for the music industry. Sadly, the opposite is true, as 95% of the time our music is shared without compensation for creators or rights holders. Meanwhile, ISPs reap significant profits, providing access to our music over their networks.
During the past decade, consumers have demonstrated an overwhelming preference for accessing music online. Attempts by governments worldwide to stop or alter this behaviour have proven futile and ineffective. We must accept this fact because only then can we move forward.
As gatekeepers to the world's repertoire of music, ISPs must share revenues with those of us who create and own the content they deliver to their customers. Creators, rights holders, and the ISPs must work together as partners rather than adversaries.
Songwriters are not arts groups. We are self-employed entrepreneurs and proud professionals. We don't want government funding. We want a fair and legal marketplace for our music.
We propose a “made in Canada” solution where individuals who wish to share music online pay a reasonable monthly licence fee for the private non-commercial sharing of music. We seek a viable business model for the digital age where consumers, our fans, can continue accessing music online while creators and rights holders are fairly compensated.