Thank you, Bill, and good morning to everybody.
I earn my living solely as a creator. I'm a musician and a screen composer. Like the vast majority of my colleagues, I'm not a big star, I'm not a household name, I have no T-shirts to sell, nobody pays big ticket prices to see me, and there are no product endorsements in my future.
In actuality, we make our primary living from secondary income streams. I'm a member of SOCAN, SODRAC, CFM, and ACTRA. These collectives efficiently distribute the revenues collected from our rights to us. Be aware that even with all these revenue streams, none of these income sources provide a decent living on their own. We rely on the strength of our combined collectives.
Bill C-32, as written, is meant to modernize consumers' access and use of copyright-protected works. Let me be clear: we want the consumer to consume our works. That is how a successful business model works. However, our ability to make a living could be stripped away with Bill C-32's pages of exceptions, while others are making money from our content.
YouTube generates money from content, but the bill creates an exception so we do not get paid. Broadcasters generate money from content, but the bill creates an exception, so we lose our income from broadcast mechanicals. Digital recording devices generate money from the very existence and essence of our content, but the bill creates an exception that effectively eliminates our private copying royalty income. Again, we do not get paid. Educators value and use our content in the classroom, but, again, we do not get paid. This is not balance.
What my colleagues and I need is simple. We need to be treated like any other legitimate business sector that creates a product of value. We want our end users to have access to our work and we need to be paid accordingly for its consumption. I'm not a lawyer, a lobbyist, a politician, or a bureaucrat. I'm not an educator, a broadcast or ISP executive or employee, but if I were, there would be no question that I would be paid for my work.
We are very small businesses, and in order to survive we must be allowed to have the tools to receive payment for the success of our inventory.
Mr. Freeman and I look forward to answering any of your questions. Thank you very much.