Oh, oh!
Evidence of meeting #26 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was music.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #26 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was music.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:10 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5:10 p.m.
President, Jumpwire Media LLC
These are the people I deal with on a regular basis.
Then I have to deal with old-school people who run TV networks and are used to coming in and sitting in their offices and getting their e-mails printed off and reading them.
It doesn't mean they're any worse. Everyone thinks that youth is the answer. It's not. It's about the experience. I would much rather train up someone who is 50 years old and “gets” that this something big, and is interested in it, than some 26-year-old or 23-year-old just out of college. It would not be a question.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
5:10 p.m.
President, Jumpwire Media LLC
I think we have some really good training. It's just about understanding how this works and what it can do for you.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
I just have to say, like many of us around the table, Mr. McGarry, that I'm so pleased that you're here today. This is a really exciting conversation to be having on the Hill.
And, yes, in case you're wondering, I am the Justin Trudeau of justin.ca.
5:10 p.m.
A voice
What's your Twitter?
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
It's “justinpjtrudeau”, 3,500 followers. Someone else took “justintrudeau”, and I'm trying to get it back.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
As “pj”, so I'm going to switch....
At any rate, sorry, I have five minutes, so we'll talk later. I'd like to.
Earlier we heard the Songwriters Association talking about a $3 licensing fee for all ISP delivery in the home that would go towards music producers. When you talk about the $10 someone uses to block their ISP address, for example, is that related? Do you think that even $3 on your $60 ISP bill a month isn't going to work, or that it's part of an old model?
5:10 p.m.
President, Jumpwire Media LLC
With the Bell takeover of CTV and stuff, there's consolidation happening. I have friends who are cutting the cord and saying they don't have TV at home anymore. But I'm like, “But you still have Bell Internet, right? So you're still paying the same guy.”
I'm not against an ISP adding something to the bill. Obviously I live in the U.S. for a reason; I don't like the idea of tax.
5:10 p.m.
President, Jumpwire Media LLC
It's not a tax.... You know, with licensing, I think there's something interesting there. Back in the day, and being old enough to know about cassettes when they put the levy on cassettes, it would be interesting to find out the research on that and how that really helped and where the money really went. Did it really get to the artist? The problem for me is that we talk about artist, but does the money get to the artist? There's always someone in the way when it's truly creative.
So for me, if you're talking about straight creativity, I just want to give the artist the tools to do whatever they want, however they want, and then allow them to monetize it themselves. If they want to bring someone else in, then, that's good.
So in terms of levies, taxes, I'd be interested to discuss that more, but I don't have enough information to be able to say whether it's good or bad.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Justin Trudeau Liberal Papineau, QC
Fair enough.
To pick up on something that Mr. Angus was asking about, the Canadian content model for music is seen as a reasonable success over the past 20 or 30 years, where we've been able to create world-class artists even in a small market like Canada by forcing radio stations to play one-third Canadian music, giving Canadian musicians that capacity to be successful and to develop world-class qualities.
Obviously, you can't apply that same kind of thinking to the digital world. But is there a way you see of encouraging or preserving the idea of Canadian content—you talk about investing in the creative, and education—without having to be heavy-handed like the radio CanCon rules that simply can't even be envisaged in the modern world? How do we encourage Canadian artists to succeed on the world stage to a better degree? Or do we need to?
5:15 p.m.
President, Jumpwire Media LLC
I think they already are. If you're into a specific kind of music....
We have a house in Toronto and a house in New York. When I'm in Toronto, one of the most multicultural cities, if I would like to go and see Jamaican roots hip hop, I can go and see it. I can't see that in New York, believe it or not. We have one of the most vibrant music communities in the world, and people see us as a real....
I know that friends of mine from New York go to Toronto for bands. Everything goes through Toronto. It's a really good music scene. But if you're into Jamaican hip-hop rap, then it doesn't matter if you live in Canada or you live in Denmark, Sweden, or wherever.
I'm going to give you an example. A stand-up comedian in America was not doing very well on the stand-up circuit, wasn't making any money. He decided to put some of his stand-up on YouTube. He looked at the data and found out he was getting all sorts of people watching it from Sweden and Denmark, in Scandinavia. He went over there, did a tour, and he's huge there now, absolutely massive. I can't remember his name, I'm so sorry, but there's example after example like this. It's about niche.
I am a Canadian, a proud Canadian, but I don't want to watch things made by Canadians. I want to watch stuff I'm interested in. If it happens to be made by a Canadian....
In a lot of the meetings I go to in New York, I'll leave the meeting and say, “Oh, by the way, I'm Canadian”, and four other people will put up their hands and say, “I didn't even know.”
So for me, it's about niche and passion. That's what the Internet has unleashed on us. It doesn't matter about being Canadian. We already lead the world. We've got a great education system. What our government can do is keep those things moving forward, ensure that Canadians have all the things that are basic human rights, and we'll be great.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
5:15 p.m.
Bloc
Roger Pomerleau Bloc Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have only one question.
I find it very difficult to enter your space. I know that you went abroad to see what people were doing in this high-level digital space, if I may use that expression. You know our strengths and weaknesses. If you could assume the role of a Canadian legislator for 10 minutes, what would you try to put in place to improve this situation? What would be your priorities?
5:15 p.m.
Voices
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Bloc
5:15 p.m.
Voices
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