I think in the early stages we need to encourage the funders to focus some energy on the.... I don't want to say they should divert all of the funds towards touring, because that doesn't allow them to continue to make the recordings that are the stem of all of the other things we're talking about. I think, as it stands now, touring is still a very hard funding element to access. It needs to be more accessible. One of the key things I mentioned in my speech was being export-ready. There are levels of artists who can be successful in Canada on a smaller scale, but you need to be export-ready. You need to be able to go into a foreign territory.
I spend a lot of time outside of this country in some of my work with Canadian Music Week. So I attend Midem, Eurosonic, PrimaveraPro, all of these events in France, Holland, Spain, where Canadian artists showcase their work and/or work with other foreign companies, and see foreign acts showcase their work in other territories as well. If the artist is not export-ready, then it doesn't make any sense. No one's going to be interested. They'll just move on quickly. But if the artist is export-ready—and many of the artists that Steve has mentioned today at various points in their career became export-ready—and then made the transition to be able to get outside this country and make themselves known.... So we need to find ways to transition some of the funding over to touring and make it accessible.
Right now, the funding agencies or organizations are going through a period of transition. How do we fund enough that these recordings can actually happen and be marketed because of the expenditure related directly to promotion and marketing? Where's the cutoff line as to what artists should be considered export-ready? That's a tricky slope right now.