Looking at ways that we can contribute, even if it's not necessarily providing a mandatory monetary contribution to a fund versus other things that can actually be done, certainly we as a company would be more inclined to look at what can we do creatively to actually promote Canadian content.
For the launch of Google Play music, we made sure that we had a number of playlists basically promoting Canadian artists and so on and so forth, because we knew how extremely important it was. And so, looking at those elements of contribution....
I know that some other witnesses have mentioned the extension of conventional radio regulations to online platforms.... It's something that we would. frankly, be concerned about for a number of reasons.
First, to the extent that the overriding policy objective of the broadcast regulation is to promote the creation and distribution of Canadian content, we have to look at the market and see whether or not that is already being accomplished, and thus whether or not it necessitates regulatory intervention.
Second, I would be very concerned about the impact that would have on the introduction of new services in this country. As has already been alluded to, it's a very complex place to do business in the music space. Licensing is extremely complicated. Adding additional regulations on top of that with respect to mandatory contributions or a mandatory percentage of Cancon would be a significant disincentive for a lot of online services and would not be beneficial to consumers, because it would mean that you have less competition.
It also is not beneficial to artists, because it means that you will have less competition. When there's a plethora of online services operating, each artist has a better position to negotiate with us, because they can say, “Well, if you don't give me the rate that I want, then I'll just go to your competitor because people want my music.”