Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 22nd, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

I'm going to call to order meeting 31 of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are studying cuts to the Canadian musical diversity program.

Today, in our first hour, we have witnesses from the Conseil québécois de la musique. I will let you folks introduce yourselves.

We also have witnesses from from Effendi Records Inc., and Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec. I apologize for my French, but I do try.

So the first presentation, please, from the Conseil québécois de la musique.

[Sylvie Gamache, Director General, Conseil québécois de la musique]

Good morning. My name is Sylvie Gamache and I am the Director General of the Conseil québécois de la musique.

Mr. Chair, members of the committee, on behalf of the members of the Conseil québécois de la musique, or CQM, I would first like to thank the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for holding this meeting, which will allow us to inform you of the foreseeable effects of the cancellation of the Canadian Musical Diversity Component of the Canada Music Fund. If we are here today with you, it is because the CQM represents many of those who found out about these significant cuts in government assistance in the media last summer.

The CQM has some 300 members, a majority of whom are corporate members working in the area of concert music, also known as specialized music. Our members include orchestras, record companies, festivals and small musical ensembles. More specifically, the CQM is a sectoral association that carries out representation and promotion activities for musicians working in a variety of styles, including early music, classical, jazz, electroacoustic, experimental and world music. Since last summer, our members have become extremely concerned following the announced changes to the Canada Music Fund, changes that will disrupt the specialized music environment and undermine its existence.

We therefore come to you, ladies and gentlemen, in the hope that you and your colleagues in government listen up to what we have to say. Over the next few weeks, we hope that you will follow up on this key issue for the music industry and the many Canadian musicians who have been severely affected by the recent program changes.

You all know that, on July 31, Minister James Moore announced the good news about the 5-year extension to the Canada Music Fund. However, at the same time, he announced major changes to that fund, i.e., the elimination of the Canadian Musical Diversity Component, which includes the grants for specialized sound recording and grants for specialized music distribution, two programs managed by the Canada Council for the Arts. This reallocation of Canadian government funding will redirect the $1.3 million dollars that were originally earmarked for the development of specialized music toward new objectives. And yet, this rather modest amount, which went into the Canadian Musical Diversity component, helped some 100 artists and record companies annually to provide audiences with a broader and more diversified selection of Canadian musical works.

Isn't the primary role of the Canada Music Fund to assist Canadian artists so that Canadians from coast to coast can continue to access a vibrant and diversified musical culture? The Canada Council for the Arts has been managing those programs since the end of the 1980s on behalf of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The grants for specialized sound recordings program was intended to support the recording of specialized Canadian music by Canadian artists, ensembles, groups, orchestras, record companies and independent record producers. Its objective was to foster the production of a greater variety of Canadian art music and insure its availability to the public.

The grants for specialized music distribution program supported the distribution of specialized music by distribution companies and record labels belonging to and controlled by Canadians while allowing funding recipients to effectively distribute, market and sell Canadian specialized music recordings. Unfortunately, despite their cultural significance, these recordings sometimes have limited access to markets and consumers.

The Canada Council for the Arts, which has an in-depth understanding of the specialized music sector, successfully managed both of those programs. The programs supported hundreds of Canadian artists and businesses, many of whom received awards for the quality of their works. Many of them were nominated for prestigious music awards, including the Juno, Félix and Opus awards. That comes as no surprise since the Canada Council's rules of attribution are based first and foremost on the quality of the submitted artistic projects.

Moreover, it should be noted that no other Canadian organization can, as part of their own eligibility and funding criteria, serve those musicians who are deeply affected by these program cuts. This all goes to say that Canada's creative musical genres, whether jazz and electroacoustic music or experimental and world music, will be losing a substantial part of their public funding.

Just like with other government assistance programs, the sound recording and distribution grants promote the career development of our Canadian artists. As you know, they contribute significantly to Canada's international prestige. Such a disengagement leads us to believe that the federal government is withdrawing support from Canadian musical creation, and we cannot accept a decision that endangers an entire section of Canada's musical diversity.

On behalf of the community it represents, the Conseil québécois de la musique is calling on the federal government to recognize the importance of the music that is created, performed and disseminated by our musicians as well as the essential role that they play in the Canadian cultural landscape. Consequently, the CQM asks the government to maintain its support for specialized music creators and recording studios through programs that are adapted to their specific needs and to fund those programs accordingly.

In order to make this all a little more concrete, allow me to open this suitcase containing some of the recordings that have been produced in the past three years thanks to the support of the sound recording program, which is managed by the Canada Council. This major collection of diverse recordings is proof of the creativity, hard work and quality of our musicians and artists.

I will now give the floor to my colleagues, musicians and directors of recording studios. They are directly affected by this funding reallocation. They have come to share with you the short- and medium-term impact of the announced cuts. I turn the floor over to them.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Next--and please keep it as short as you can, or we won't have long for questions.

[Christophe Papadimitriou, President, L'OFF Festival de jazz de Montréal, Conseil québécois de la musique]

Good morning. My name is Christophe Papadimitriou. I have been playing the base professionally for the past 20 years. I am a member of various jazz and world music ensembles. I also accompany pop artists. In conjunction with my career as a musician, I have been directing Montreal's OFF Jazz Festival since 2006. I also work for the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur, which is a cultural centre dedicated to classical and contemporary music. I sit on the board of the Conseil des arts de Montréal and am Vice-President of the Conseil québécois de la musique. I would like to thank you for welcoming me here today as a witness.

My many musical activities allow me to work with a wide variety of specialized musicians and to understand how the sector operates. My remarks today will essentially deal with the consequences of the cuts to the grants for specialized sound recording program for independent artists. The grants helped co-fund some 100 projects across Canada in 2008. They are essential and vital for specialized musicians. The production of a sound recording is a key step not only in the creation of a work but also in its dissemination. A recording is both a physical product of a musical creation, a necessary promotional tool to sell performances both here and abroad, and a reference document that is part of our national heritage.

The recording of specialized music cannot be treated in the same way as that of other more popular genres. I would like to quote the eloquent definition given by the Canada Council:

“Specialized music” is defined as music whose intent or content is not shaped by the desire for wide-market appeal—instead, it places creativity, self-expression or experimentation above the demands and formal expectations of the mainstream recording industry. Specialized music has significance beyond being just entertainment, and it is usually found in the parallel market and alternative distribution systems.

Profitability in terms of album sales does not apply in this case. We are addressing a specialized audience and, therefore, a limited number of sales. The profitability of a specialized music project is calculated in terms of career development. A recording allows a musician to be broadcast on the radio, obtain media reviews and, above all, sell concerts. In the majority of cases, concerts represent the main source of revenue for artists, and without quality recordings, groups have no way to solicit festivals and Canadian and foreign presenters or to take part in musical showcases.

The average funding allocated by the Canada Council for this type of project is approximately $7,000. The funding cannot exceed 60% of the total budget. Artists always invest their own money in this type of initiative, but their precarious status makes it impossible for them to pay the total amount. Moreover, a number of economic players also benefit from these recordings, including studios, sound engineers and graphic designers.

In conclusion, as I have just explained, these funds are essential for the survival of the specialized music sector, and they can only be managed by an institution whose selection criteria are based on artistic excellence rather than commercial benefits, such as the Canada Council for the Arts.

The elimination of the grants for specialized sound recording program will have irreparable consequences on an entire section of Canada's musical scene. The diversity and vitality of our creators is at stake. Quality and excellence are not necessarily rewarded with commercial success, but our artists' know-how and expertise enrich our Canadian heritage.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Mr. Denis.

[Jean-François Denis, Director, DIFFUSION i MéDIA, Conseil québécois de la musique]

Good morning. I am Jean-François Denis and I am the Director of the empreintes DIGITALes record company.

Cities, regions, countries take pride in their symphony orchestras and their opera houses, which are two of the best known institutions for so-called specialized music. These institutions have their own characteristics and as such they cannot be subject to the same marketing laws as variety shows or musical comedy. The same applies to the other forms of specialized music such as electroacoustic music, current, experimental and contemporary music.

Some people think that all the different kinds of music make up one homogeneous entity because after all, every kind of music needs creators and performers. Music is experienced directly in a concert hall or through media such as records and radio. People get information about music through newspapers, music magazines and other sources. Different genres of music are practised in very different ways. These different kinds of practice give rise to the development of lines of transmission, production, promotion and distribution adapted to different kinds of music: specialized music needs specialized treatment.

Based on these solid industrial structures, variety music is now present everywhere in our society. This industry can be used as a model in many ways. In the same way as for song, the chain that connects the creator of specialized music to his fans also developed in its own way, with its specialized magazines and reviews, with its own organizations for concerts and festivals, with its own ensembles and performers, creators and composers, record companies, publishers, radio broadcasts, etc.

Just like the rest of the industry, where every link and every trade complements the others and is potentially assisted by various kinds of subsidies, the vast sector of specialized music also has its links, and each link is equally important for the other links in the chain. This is why if you suddenly withdraw support to two production links, namely sound recording and distribution, it can only destabilize the sector and it could even be catastrophic, as if one sector were asked to function with the methods of another sector. The short-, medium- and long-term impact is enormous, not only on the accessibility of the work—there will be far fewer sound recordings—but it will also impact the renown of our musicians at home and abroad and the entire musical discipline.

In fact, most kinds of so-called specialized music are taught from primary school until university, first to develop appreciation for music and to prepare future audiences, to understand its workings through study, research and analysis and, of course, to train musicians, creators and performers for tomorrow. Music is learned and developed through hearing sound recordings, all the more so because some forms of specialized music exist only on sound recordings. These recordings, these discs play several roles, such as giving access to musical works, promoting education and practical development, and constituting a national heritage to preserve audible tracks of the creativity of our musicians across the whole world.

In January 2010, my record company, empreintes DIGITALes, will celebrate its 20 years in the record publishing business. More than 110 titles—one composer per record—were produced and made available to the public at home and especially abroad. As of today, I have produced 84 records by 50 Canadian composers such as Francis Dhomont, Robert Normandeau, Paul Dolden and Gilles Gobeil, and by 32 foreign composers from France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Sweden and Argentina. Sixty-three of the 84 Canadian records received assistance, which was often modest, from the production program that the Canada Council has been running for more than 20 years. This program helps us to carry out our mission, the mission of my record company, which is to make these unique kinds of music available to the public.

How many of these 63 albums would have been made without the support of the Grants for Specialized Music Sound Recording Program? Possibly none of them because, in August 1989, without this support, setting up a record company that would help Canadian creativity flourish to this day could never have been anything more than a pipe dream.

With the music diversity program being abolished, and with production and distribution assistance programs being cut, how many aspiring musicians and new record publishers will never fulfil their potential? How many listeners and music lovers will be deprived of access to new works? Do you understand that the emerging culture of the new millennium will never be as broad, rich and diversified as the one that all of us here today have enjoyed, the one to which, at least up until now, we have all contributed in such a creative, expressive and breathtaking way?

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Next we will go to Madame Therrien--

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I'm really concerned because we're so far into the meeting and we're only through the first guest. I'm concerned. Can you give some idea as to how much time we're hoping to hold aside for questions?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

We try to hold our presentations to ten minutes. I know one witness has taken up almost eighteen minutes, but I would ask the other two witnesses who are going to present if they could please try to keep the presentations under ten minutes. There might only be one round of questions.

Go ahead, Madame Therrien, please.

[Carole Therrien, Vice-President, Effendi Records Inc.]

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Carole Therrien, I am from Montreal, and my job titles are many: opera, classical, baroque and jazz singer; music writer and composer; and, lastly, producer, manager and, together with the bass player Alain Bédard, co-founder of the contemporary jazz label, Effendi.

For the past 10 years, Effendi has been one of Canada's biggest jazz labels. We have carved a niche as a leader in the field, helping a growing number of artists make their records and organize their concerts and tours. Our principal objective is to promote Canadian jazz. Our sound recordings host 90% original Canadian music content. We are working with renowned artists such as, amongst others, Rémi Bolduc, François Bourrassa and Michel Donato. We also distribute sound recordings by a number of Canadian and foreign independent labels across Canada.

Since May 2000, we have received multiple nominations for our recordings in a variety of competitions. In addition to the nominations, we have won some 30 prizes. A list of the prizes we have won is provided in the appendix to our brief. For 10 years, we have been working to create Canadian content and promote our music and our culture. Effendi is raising the profile of Canadian culture, both here and abroad, both by means of domestic and international distribution and of scheduling performances at venues such as New York's Lincoln Center and Milan's Blue Note. Four of our artists are touring this fall, three in Europe and one in Canada. We have also just found out that one of our artists, François Bourrassa, has been selected to represent Canada at the next MIDEM trade show.

Abolishing programs to replace them with new, virtually unrelated ones makes no sense. We produce one or two recordings a year thanks to Canada Council for the Arts funding, and have released a number of recordings by artists and producers who have received funding from the Grants for Specialized Music Sound Recordings Program, but not from MUSICACTION or FACTOR. It is a mistake to think that there's overlap between the various programs, and to do so will simply lead to a reduction in the number of records on the market, which will, in turn, have the undesirable consequence of creating greater homogeneity.

The FACTOR and MUSICACTION juries are not exclusively juries of peers, unlike Canada Council for the Arts juries. This means that the juries may therefore not have the requisite in-depth understanding necessary to evaluate the quality of a project, and may only consider commercial factors. Selling 20,000 copies is not necessarily an indication of superior quality; it is sometimes simply an indication of a larger marketing budget.

We are fortunate enough to be well known by MUSICACTION, and thanks to that, we can submit projects to their board that would not necessarily be accepted by their jury. The funding that we receive is often not even enough to produce a recording. In some instances, we have received funding from both the Canada Council for the Arts and MUSICACTION for the same project, but that is not the norm. Furthermore, the support we receive never exceeds 70% of the total funding required. We always have to invest our own time and money. That is why grants for specialized music distribution are essential. Jazz lovers around the world have a fairly similar profile: they are usually disinclined to buy MP3 downloads, as they are always compressed and, therefore, offer poorer sound quality than CDs; they prefer to have the actual CD and its cover; and, often, carefully choose a high-quality sound system to listen to their music. For these reasons, there will always be retailers selling physical recordings, and we will always need support to promote our recordings, lest they be lost in the myriad weekly releases.

Abolishing the program would probably also have a detrimental effect on the capacity of universities and music schools to attract students and therefore to offer courses. In spite of its excellent reputation for teaching jazz, who would go to McGill if it were unable to offer access to the latest recordings? What would be the point of offering these programs if becoming a professional jazz artist were nothing more than a dream of yesteryear? Nowadays, jazz is taught in secondary schools and colleges, as well as at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral level in universities. Do not think that these students will simply turn to commercial jazz. That is not the case at all, they want to be the best they can be, and it is for them that the Grants for Specialized Music Sound Recording Program is so essential.

In the short term, our company risks having to make more risky investments. There will be a decline in the number of quality recordings, which will undermine musical diversity and harbour disastrous consequences for the entire specialized music industry and its attendant job market.

To ensure greater profitability, some companies have not hesitated to offer more popular and even foreign content, content which is often not original. We, however, like other companies, have for a number of years favoured original, Canadian content because we believe in openness, and in the strength and attractiveness of our culture both abroad and here at home.

To conclude, I would like to draw your attention to the issue of attracting new consumers. Why do radio stations insist on endlessly playing the same recordings and the same American composers? Should we not try to help ensure access to quality Canadian content—not Canadian jazz performers playing American classics, but playing their music, our music? It is a question of showing pride in our culture; but to achieve this, radio stations, broadcasters and founders have to take risks. I do not support your decision to cut Canada Council for the Arts programs, and would ask that you please reinstate them quickly.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Mr. Fortin.

[Luc Fortin, President, Local 406 of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec]

Thank you for inviting our guild, la Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec, to appear before your committee. My name is Luc Fortin, and I am a composer and professional musician, as well as being the President of la Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec, an association comprising more than 3,100 professional musicians. We are also affiliated with the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, and I will also be speaking on their behalf today.

During the summer, Mr. James Moore announced that Canadian Heritage would be “changing the structure of the Canada Music Fund in order to reduce the administrative burden and increase the visibility of Canadian music on digital platforms and international markets.” Although these are laudable objectives, it has become apparent that the new approach has overlooked key elements of the Canadian musical mosaic. By axing the Canadian Musical Diversity Component which included grants for specialized music sound recordings and grants for specialized music distribution, the government has essentially left a whole category of musicians and artists—whose contribution to our culture is vital—to fend for themselves.

How can artists benefit from new programs increasing the visibility of Canadian music and digital platforms and international markets if, simultaneously, funding to produce sound recordings and distribute them by a traditional means is being withdrawn? It is abundantly clear that musicians and other artists working in the specialized music field have been overlooked. There is an inherent inequity as those artists who do not have a new album to promote cannot access digital and international markets as easily. Canadian sound recordings, in addition to further enhancing our diverse and thriving culture, are valuable promotional tools for our musicians. Without professional quality sound recordings, these artists will not be able to participate in the digital revolution and will find it difficult to export their music and promote their concerts.

We believe that, to ensure a diverse and representative culture, all elements of that culture must be supported. The many musicians, composers and groups who have benefited from the Canadian Musical Diversity Component have made a valuable contribution to our culture. More than 100 albums a year were produced or distributed thanks to support from the program, a third in Quebec alone. Innovation, research and discovery are at the heart of this musical diversity, and it generates an incredible pool of research and development. Popular music often draws on this indefatigable source of new sounds. Canadian musical culture is a complex and fragile ecosystem, and all of its component parts must be preserved so that they can continue to play their intended role; if not, we run the risk of losing what defines us and what makes us great.

We would therefore ask the Minister of Canadian Heritage to immediately reinstate the Canadian Musical Diversity Component to once again allow talented artists to enrich our Canadian musical diversity.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you very much.

There will be one round of questioning. I'm going to give each party six minutes, and that will get us to eleven o'clock.

Mr. Rodriguez, you're first, please.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning to all of you. I am delighted to see you all here today, even if what brings us here is bad news rather than glad tidings.

All of you are very involved in the industry. Were any of you consulted in any way before the cuts were announced?

[Sylvie Gamache]

No.

[Christophe Papadimitriou]

No.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Very well. I asked exactly the same question of some of your colleagues from elsewhere in Canada who appeared before us earlier this week, and their answer was the same as yours. Nobody from the industry was consulted, not a single artist, representative or producer. What is all the more unusual is that when consultations were held on the overall quality of the program, 98% of people said that it should be maintained. And yet it has been cut!

Why do you believe the program was cut, and how did you find out about it?

[Sylvie Gamache]

At the Conseil québécois de la musique, we found out about it when the press release of July 31 was published in the newspapers.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I see.

[Jean-François Denis]

We also found out about it through this press release that was issued in Montreal. Furthermore, it was on a Friday afternoon.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

As usual!

[Carole Therrien]

As for me, I found out about it by calling the Canada Council for the Arts. We had certain questions, and we learned that there was only one date available, and that afterwards, the program would cease to exist.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

So you were busy on the Friday afternoon. That's why you did not hear about it then.

[Carole Therrien]

No, but...

[Luc Fortin]

As far as I am concerned, I learned about it indirectly, through Carole and her spouse, Alain Bédard. By carefully searching Heritage Canada's website, I finally found more detailed information. Let's say that very few people know exactly what was happening on July 31. We had to analyze the situation in detail.