Evidence of meeting #33 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was artists.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
I will call the meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting 33 of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are studying cuts to the Canadian musical diversity program.
Our first speaker will be Ms. Heather Ostertag, president and chief executive officer of FACTOR. Please go ahead, Ms. Ostertag.
Heather Ostertag President and Chief Executive Officer, Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR)
My name is Heather Ostertag. I am the president and CEO of the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings, commonly referred to as FACTOR.
FACTOR is a private not-for-profit organization that manages funds on behalf of the Department of Canadian Heritage as well as contributions from Canada's private radio broadcasters.
Please allow me to provide some brief historical background on the foundation. In 1982 FACTOR was created as a result of a collaboration between the music industry and Canada's private radio broadcasters. In 1985 FACTOR merged with the Canadian Talent Library, creating an even larger pool of funding for artists. In 1986 the Department of Canadian Heritage, previously titled the Department of Communications, launched what is now referred to as the Canada Music Fund.
FACTOR and its sister organization, MUSICACTION, entered into an agreement to manage components of the initiative. FACTOR and MUSICACTION have continued to administer various programs on behalf of Canadian Heritage.
Personally, I have been involved with FACTOR since 1985 and have witnessed the increased support from the Canadian government over the years. The fund was launched with a commitment of $25 million over five years. It is so greatly appreciated by the artists and the music industry that the department has, over time, increased its commitment to the music industry. The recent announcement to recommit to an additional five years, with a value of $138 million, was well received.
The objective of the funding has always been to respond to the current needs of Canadian artists. From the outset, the intent of the government funding has been to support the production, marketing, and promotion of projects by Canadian artists, both domestically and internationally.
Under its current and previous agreements, FACTOR is contractually bound to fund projects from all genres of music as well as culturally diverse projects.
FACTOR has historically identified and addressed the ever-changing needs of the artists. The ongoing, direct relationship FACTOR has with its clients facilitates the foundation's ability to identify the ever-changing needs of artists. As a result, FACTOR has continually gone on record to request additional funding. While it is appropriate for FACTOR to request additional financial support, we recognize that it would be inappropriate to suggest where the much needed funds come from.
We recognize, however, that there will always be a finite amount of funding available. Further, we recognize the difficulty in the decision-making process encountered by both the funders and the administrators. It is not possible to provide funding for every proposal received.
The assessment process used by FACTOR is similar to the Canada Council's. It is a peer assessment that determines which projects will receive funding. Applicants effectively select their jury of peers during the process of application, which requires them to select a musical genre. Musical genre selection is not required for the purpose of slotting the artists into a niche but rather to allow them to choose the jurors who work in a specific genre as those best suited to adjudicating their proposals.
Each genre jury member has been accredited to ensure that he or she has a deep understanding of the genre and an ability to assess projects based on their creative merits.
The board of directors of FACTOR does not make creative decisions, nor do members listen to the music. If a project is recommended for funding through the creative assessment process, it will receive an offer of funding.
For the year ending March 31, 2009, FACTOR invested almost 30% of its funding in culturally diverse projects.
FACTOR is represented coast to coast to coast by the provincial music industry associations in each territory and province in Canada. They conduct juries across the country simultaneously. These relationships are invaluable to FACTOR, because they help to ensure that there is a national voice in the decision-making process.
FACTOR is not in a position to fund every proposal it receives, because there is a finite amount of funding available. That is the unfortunate reality of administering funding programs. However, I believe that the process we have, and the relationships we have with the provincial music industry associations, help to ensure that all proposals are given a fair and equal opportunity for consideration, regardless of genre.
Thank you.
Conservative
Andrée Ménard General Director, MUSICACTION
My name is Andrée Ménard. I have been the General Director of MUSICACTION since 2001, and so this is my ninth year. I have prepared a brief that is somewhat technical, but it is a response to the many comments and observations that have been made to this committee since the start of your study.
MUSICACTION was created in 1985 as an initiative of radio, record and performing arts professionals mainly to support the development of Canadian francophone music. The three members of MUSICACTION are the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, ADISQ and Quebec's Association of professional songwriters and music composers, the SPACQ.
In 1986, the Department of Canadian Heritage became one of MUSICACTION's partners when it transferred to MUSICACTION the management of some components of the SRDP, which was the original sound recording program. Since 2002, MUSICACTION has been managing two components of the Canada Music Fund, that is, the new musical works and the collective initiatives components. MUSICACTION has a budget of $8 million, with $5.5 million from the department and $2.5 million from private broadcasters.
The new musical works component includes not only production programs, but also national and international marketing, management and showcase support. The collective initiatives component is intended to support professional development and promotion activities for young artists, such as singer-songwriter competitions, galas, trade meetings and festivals that showcase singers and songwriters. Recently, the music showcases initiative was created to promote artists from outside Quebec, that is, those from francophone minority communities across Canada.
Furthermore, MUSICACTION receives project applications from all musical genres and does not exclude any. Last year, 320 production and marketing projects were approved, accounting for close to $6 million. About half of the projects are in the popular song, music and contemporary folk genres, while the other half is made up of jazz, instrumental, classical, world, urban, hip-hop, alternative and traditional music. We cover a great diversity of styles.
Our experience shows that creators of contemporary, experimental and electroacoustic music tend to apply in greater numbers to the musical diversity program of the Canada Council for the Arts when looking to receive support for specialized music production and distribution. However, it has also been shown that artists in the classical music, jazz, folk and world music genres have been applying to MUSICACTION in the nine years since I have been at the helm of the organization. For example, Effendi Records, whose representatives you heard from last week, receives over $100,000 a year to market jazz albums from artists who received an equivalent sum from MUSICACTION.
MUSICACTION offers substantial support to emerging artists and businesses that support their development. Last year, we supported the production of 83 albums. Of that number, 37 were first albums and 20 were sophomore productions. This goes to show that we do not work with established artists, but with those whose careers are emerging.
There are two ways for artists to receive funding from MUSICACTION. The first is as a recognized producer, a status that is assigned to record companies according to musical genre, the number of roster artists and sales generated. The music entrepreneur component, which was created in 2006, provides funding to Canada's largest record companies and has provided substantial support to new firms. We now support some 20 companies that, thanks to base funding guaranteed by MUSICACTION, mainly support young artists. Those companies include firms that specialize in the classical, jazz and hip-hop genres.
The second way to access funding is through the jury selection process, which is used by artists who fund their own projects and by over 60 small businesses that represent them. The first assessment criterion is artistic and takes into account in the scoring the artist's professional environment, which includes their management, tour organizers, record labels, licences and distribution. The assessment also considers a project marketing plan.
Some four committees, made up of artists, industry professionals and media representatives, distinctly evaluate projects from artists outside Quebec, as well as francophone vocal music, alternative music and the other musical genres we are dealing with today, that is, classical, instrumental, jazz and world music.
Last year, the jury acceptance rate for those other musical styles was 54%, or 15 approvals out of 28 projects received, compared with a 35% approval rate for all popular music projects.
The funding awarded to other musical styles amounts to 50% of funding requests, compared with 30% for francophone vocal music. That is to say that MUSICACTION treats other musical genres as well as if not better than more popular styles.
Contrary to what has been said, access to MUSICACTION funding does not mainly depend on profitability. Of all projects funded by MUSICACTION, very few achieve the levels of sales that are usually equated with commercial music. Sales make up only one of the factors evaluated as part of the professional environment.
With regard to other musical genres, in particular, sales considerations are rarely used to exclude projects, because most applicants have similar outcomes, that is, few sales. Generally speaking, we select the best artistic projects.
Lastly, allow me to point out that MUSICACTION stopped collecting royalties on album sales in 2006. Therefore, our funding is a contribution, not a loan.
I hope that these few technical observations have helped to clarify the comments that you have heard since the start of these hearings. Thank you.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Thank you very much for that presentation.
Now we move to the Canada Council for the Arts, with Russell Kelley, head of the music section, and Carol Bream, director of communications.
Ms. Bream, please.
Dr. Carol Bream Director, Communications, Canada Council for the Arts
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, and thank you for your invitation to appear before you today with regard to the specialized music sound recording program and the specialized music distribution program of the Canada Council for the Arts.
I'm Carol Bream, director of communications, and my colleague Russell Kelley is head of the music section.
Music is one of the seven main artistic disciplines the council invests in through a range of programs. The other disciplines are dance, theatre, visual arts, media arts, writing and publishing, and interdisciplinary arts.
The Canada Council's programs are peer-assessed, and in 2008-09 the Canada Council used over 800 peers for this purpose. Our grants totaled about $144 million, and we gave 6,200 grants to professional arts organizations and individual professional artists.
I will begin with an overview of the activities of the Council's Music Section. My colleague will then describe the sound recording programs that we have been administering since 1986 on behalf of the Department of Canadian Heritage. He will then speak to the impact that the changes announced recently by the department will have on the musicians in whom the council invests.
The Music Section invests in the creation, production and dissemination of Canadian music, as well as in the development of individuals, groups, small ensembles, orchestras, opera companies and other professionals in the Canadian music community.
Particularly relevant to our meeting today, the Music Section has managed a program for sound recording development on behalf of the Department of Canadian Heritage for 23 years. This program funded sound recordings in a number of genres, most notably in jazz, folk, world music and Canadian contemporary classical music. We learned on July 30 of this year that, after more than two decades, the memorandum of understanding would not be renewed and that the opportunities offered to the specialized music sector might disappear or be significantly reduced under the revamped Canada Music Fund.
Our preliminary analysis of the new Canada Music Fund appears to support the view that many musicians in jazz, folk, world music and contemporary classical music may no longer have access to sound recording support at the federal level. Meanwhile, provincial support for sound recording is uneven.
The specialized music sound recording and distribution programs of the Canada Council for the Arts resulted in over 94 CDs per year and supported leading-edge creation in a wide range of genres by professional musicians who use recordings as key business tools for finding work and audiences, both in Canada and abroad.
There is a key difference between the Canada council 's approach and the industry approach, which values the profit potential of a recording. For the musicians who receive funding from our programs, a recording is a business tool. But it may or may not eventually be profitable in the same way or at the same level as FACTOR or MUSICACTION define this concept in relation to the important programs that they deliver.
Artists in whom the Canada Council for the Arts has invested are the backbone of the many summer festivals in jazz, folk, world music and chamber music that are so popular with audiences across Canada.
Russell Kelley, head of music, will speak about the music ecosystem in Canada and about the potential impact of the changes to the Canada Music Fund on musicians in whom the council has invested over the past two decades.
Russell, the floor is yours.
Russell Kelley Head, Music Section, Canada Council for the Arts
Thank you, Carol.
First of all, I would like to touch on what we call the musical ecology system in Canada. At one end of the spectrum, it includes the highly commercial entertainment side of the music industry. This includes radio, television, record labels, and the musicians who are able to get recording deals with major labels or who are working towards that end. Such musicians and their record labels are able to access readily the funding from FACTOR and MUSICACTION.
On the other end of the spectrum, the ecosystem also includes young, mid-career, and more established musicians in less commercial genres like contemporary classical music, world music, jazz, folk, and audio sound art. As the department's website notes, and I quote:
This is music not generally part of prevailing musical trends, as it emphasizes artistic considerations—creativity, free expression and/or experimentation—that do not necessarily meet conventional criteria and formats as defined by the popular music marketplace.
These are the professional musicians in whom the Canada Council has been investing. These professional musicians have been able to access small grants to make high-quality recordings for sale and promotional purposes for the past 23 years under what is now called the Canadian musical diversity component of the existing Canada Music Fund.
The combination of all types of music produced in Canada makes up this vital and dynamic ecosystem, and it includes the funding ecosystem in which the council has been pleased to share a role. The ecosystem is now threatened by the likely loss of funding for the musicians who have received support for recording activity from the Canada Council.
These musicians have had access to about $1.3 million or just 5% of the $27 million or so in the new Canada Music Fund. The success rate, even in the council's small part of the Canada Music Fund, has only been about 22%. That is to say, fewer than one in four applicants received a grant from the Canada Council through the two programs we delivered. It is never, ever a slam-dunk to get a grant from the Canada Council.
The artists who the council invests in are as intent on developing and sustaining careers in music as those on the more commercial side of the music industry. This means that every two or three years they must be able to record a new high-quality CD to maintain and develop audiences and new markets.
So how could the revamped Canada Music Fund affect these musicians? A summative evaluation conducted by the Department of Canadian Heritage in 2007 with respect to the Canada Music Fund highlighted that more than 80% of the artists who benefited from the Council's Canadian musical diversity component achieved increased technical quality of their sound recordings.
In today's digital world, high-quality sound recordings are essential for the artists who seek our support to secure touring opportunities and to promote their music in Canada and around the world. Again, Canadian Heritage's summative evaluation found that more than 86% of recipients of the Canadian musical diversity component confirmed that the funding enhanced their career in exactly this way.
More controversially, it has been stated that there was considerable overlap between the projects supported by FACTOR and MUSICACTION and those of the Canada Council and that the artists supported through the council's component of the existing fund would, for the most part, by implication, be accommodated by other partners in the newly constituted Canada Music Fund.
Without trying to be argumentative, our own analysis of all funding—Canada Council's, FACTOR's, and MUSICACTION's—for the past three and a half years plus the findings of the summative evaluation raise serious questions about this conclusion.
I should note that we were trying to determine impact on recording support opportunities for these artists who come to our component, and we recognize that the artists who come to our component are also exactly the same artists who come to our touring programs, our career development programs, and all of those other program supports as, similarly, those who are mostly supported by FACTOR and MUSICACTION for recordings are also supported through their programs for touring and market development.
Our statistics show that the overlap between artists supported by any of the Canada Council music programs and those supported by any of the programs at FACTOR and MUSICACTION is about 15% annually. This means that, at most, 15% of the artists receiving support from the Canada Council for activities such as touring, market promotion, showcasing, and sound recording, also receive support from FACTOR or MUSICACTION's similar programs. We consider, when I mention ecosystem, that this is both appropriate and part of what we think is how you deliver support to the entire community. In other words, a minimum of 85% of the musicians the council supported may not be able to find similar support elsewhere at the federal level in the future.
In looking at the last 18 months, our research showed that of the 2,770 grant recipients from both FACTOR and MUSICACTION combined, only 79 of those recipients, or 3%, received sound recording funding from the Canada Council in the same period.
For the professional musicians, ensembles, and groups served by the musical diversity program where the traditions of working as independent artists have been the norm, the reduction of recording costs and the practice of selling from the stages of the festivals, churches, community centres, auditoriums and clubs in which they play, as well as through self-developed distribution channels, are proving to be a significant advantage at the moment, as long as the recordings can be made to an acceptable professional standard. This is not a given if funding is unavailable to these artists to achieve that goal.
Director, Communications, Canada Council for the Arts
In conclusion, since the final terms and conditions for eligibility to the revamped fund are still unknown, the Canada Council is not yet in a position to assess the full impact of the offerings provided under the newly constituted Canada Music Fund on the specialized and diverse musicians in whom the Canada Council invests.
I would like to emphasize that the council has received strong reactions to the government's announcement and seen similar reactions in the media, as have the members of this committee and, no doubt, other parliamentarians.
The Canada Council is only too aware of one very important fact: Sound recordings are the single primary driver to finding work as a professional musician or as an ensemble, so the need for current, high-quality recordings remains critical and we regret not being a partner in the sustaining of the recording ecosystem.
It is our hope that the changes brought about will continue to provide assistance for the production and distribution of recordings of specialized music, music that emphasizes artistic considerations, creativity, free expression, or experimentation, music that does not necessarily meet conventional profit-based criteria and formats as defined by the popular music marketplace. Such music often provides vibrant, innovative and important new initiatives in music that are later imitated or integrated into commercial music. It would be very sad were they to wither from the lack of a relatively small amount of investment in the overall music economy.
Merci. We will be pleased to answer your questions.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Thank you.
For the first question, Monsieur Rodriguez, please.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here with us this morning.
My question goes to both Ms. Ostertag and Ms. Ménard.
You are here as part of the study on cuts to the Canadian Musical Diversity Program, but I have not heard you speak specifically to that subject. You have not said anything about the program cuts. May I hear your opinion on that?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR)
That's correct. At FACTOR, we've enjoyed a longstanding working relationship with the department. Our experience over time has been that there have been cuts to programs in the past and changes of administrators on funds. We're non-political, non-aligned. We don't get involved in that part of things, but we're confident that the process the department goes through when determining projects to get funding and what initiatives should be getting support—
President and Chief Executive Officer, Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR)
—is in keeping—
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
I'd like to hear Madame Ménard.
Sorry, I have just five minutes for everybody.
General Director, MUSICACTION
I have not expressed an opinion on that because it is not our decision. I wanted to highlight the comments concerning the so-called commercial approach of MUSICACTION with regard to the musical diversity program. I demonstrated in the text that that was not the case.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Two programs out of seven were cut, and the money for those two programs was redistributed to the other five programs. You are involved in all five of those programs, and you will thus receive more money. Are you not in a conflict of interest in that respect?
General Director, MUSICACTION
The funding announced by the minister is not intended for a new production program, but for two other thrusts.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
There are seven programs; two were cut and their funding was redistributed to the five remaining programs. Now you are involved in all five, so you are going to receive more money. To a certain extent, you are in a conflict of interest if you give your opinion on this study.
General Director, MUSICACTION
Once again, I will not express an opinion on the relevance of the musical diversity program. I gave an opinion on its impact.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
ADISQ spoke out in favour of the cut, and it is one of your members. You have three of them.
Do you agree with ADISQ?
General Director, MUSICACTION
ADISQ did not speak out in favour of the cut but in favour of the direction for the funding announced by the minister. That funding is intended for exports.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
But that money comes from the cuts. So that means that ADISQ agreed that the envelope should be reduced in this way.
General Director, MUSICACTION
ADISQ did not give an opinion on the cuts to the musical diversity program.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
You should read the press release. It states that the people at ADISQ were in agreement with this situation. I contacted them about it. I find it odd that several of the people who benefited from these programs stated in recent weeks that they were devastated.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR)
There appears to be a lot of confusion, and part of the reason I'm here is to be on the record about what's really going on. Four artists have appeared before this committee, and they have been receiving substantial funding from FACTOR. Some of what they've put on the record.... Clearly, there's some confusion, because, for example, Zubot and Dawson are talking about Tractor Parts having been funded by the Canada Council. FACTOR funded that project as well. They're talking about that being the launch of their career in 2000. We also supported them with a sound recording in 1997.
You've got Tanya Tagaq, the Inuit throat singer. We've been giving her support. And Alex Cuba.