Good morning.
I want to thank the committee for having me here today. I also want to say hello to my colleagues from the Canadian Federation of Musicians and the SPACQ.
I am the President of the Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec—Quebec musicians guild—which partners with the Canadian Federation of Musicians. We also have the exclusive accreditation to represent musicians in Quebec under the provincial legislation on the status of the artist. Our association has 3,300 regular members and close to 500 members by permission.
I will basically talk about the modernization or reform of copyright in the digital era, and about funding allocation procedures to better support our musicians.
The digital boom has revolutionized the music industry. Music is accessible from anywhere on a broad variety of portable devices connected to wireless networks, most often at no charge to users. On YouTube, for instance, people can listen to anything for free, and musicians or right holders don't receive any compensation.
Unfortunately, music industry frameworks in Canada are not adapted to the rapid evolution of the digital era. The first victims are musicians, artists and creators.
If producers are complaining about a drop in their revenue following this digital revolution, you can easily imagine the devastating impact of that drop on artists themselves, who often receive only a tiny fraction of phonogram and album sales.
We at the Quebec musicians guild are regularly faced with our members' unfortunate socio-economic situation. We estimate that one-fifth of our 3,300 members can truly live from their music consistently. We are including education as a source of revenue.
One of the reasons behind the decline in revenue was Bill C-32. Unfortunately, that legislation prematurely put an end to the private copying levy. Today, private copying is done by more Canadians than ever before. Musical works are being copied to USB keys, the SIM cards of smart phones, iPads, iPods, and so on, without any money going to collectives. This is a gross injustice, and the Canadian government must set things right. A royalty paid to artists is not a tax, and Canadians are fully aware of that.
In addition, Internet service providers must absolutely contribute because they have a substantial revenue stream from Internet subscriptions and bandwidth sales, which are in part attributed to Canadians' amazing appetite for downloading and streaming musical works. However, the works broadcast on the Internet bring almost nothing to creators.
It's not normal for songs heard thousands of times, especially on YouTube, to make no money. That platform enables people to listen to pretty much any musical work for free. Internet users often post songs online without consulting the authors or associating the video with them. People make their own montage using images. The Copyright Act should absolutely be modernized, so that everyone can receive their fair share.
Let's now talk about funding allocation. Producers receive assistance for operations and projects related to their business activities. Musicians do not receive that type of assistance, except in the case of specific short-term creation projects or the setting-up of certain short-term shows. Most of the funding goes to private production companies. Consequently, we have to work several jobs and live very precariously. That often forces musical artists to give up on their career fairly early. We depend on production companies and are often at the end of the compensation chain.
Many assistance programs are available for production companies, but that unfortunately does not enable our artists live from their art. Musicians are always paid at the end.
Subsidized companies do have enough money to hire employees, accountants, press agents, communications officers, and so on.
We think that the government must absolutely take into consideration the fact that artists also have to make enough money to focus on their art. Grant allocation policies should take that into account. I invite you to watch the excellent documentary series called Arrière-scène. The series was produced by Franco-Ontarian television station TFO and directed by Nicolas Boucher, a former guild member turned film producer. The documentary looks at the daily lives of Canadian musicians who tell the camera about the difficulties they have faced in their jobs and their frustration with the inequitable sharing of industry revenue.
For example, after revenue sharing, an album sold for $10 on iTunes may bring 75¢ to the group of artists and creators involved in its making. You will understands that, with sales splitting, hardly at any revenue can be made through that type of sharing without additional fees being applied to Internet broadcasting.
As for the funding of company projects, all album projects should ensure regular earnings over the length of the undertaking. The policy whereby an artist starts receiving royalties only once production costs have been covered is unacceptable. Royalties should be paid as soon as the first album has been sold, and the subsidies provided should take that into account. I also don't think that waiting until all production costs have been covered is a good way to pay providers. Therefore, musicians should not be subject to that policy.
Artists' associations have also established minimum standards of pay, and the collective agreements that are negotiated guarantee a social safety net for artists and protection in case of litigation. Those contracts should absolutely be submitted in company usage reports to the organizations that subsidize them.
How can it be ensured that artists and musicians have been paid properly if there is no oversight in that area? The best form of oversight is the submission of contracts approved by artists' associations. This is a key point that should absolutely be dealt with.
Thank you for your attention.