Hello everyone. I'm here representing Manitoba Music. I'm here in lieu of Sara Stasiuk, our executive director, who is away at an international conference presently.
Manitoba Music is also an MIA, a music industry association, and we represent Manitobans working in the field. The organization has over 750 members, representing 1,200 individuals working in music in Manitoba. Of our membership, we have about 80% who are artists; 20% are service providers, such as labels or agents; and 95% of the businesses we support through our programming are working in microenterprise, that is, companies with three employees or less. Entrepreneurship is our focus, as the industry association and as a provincially recognized sector council.
Training and professional development is a big part of what we do to support sustainable careers in music in Manitoba. In an increasingly complex and changeable business environment, we provide an essential service to our membership. Our provincial government, along with Western Economic Diversification, supports us for trade, that is, music export activity and capacity building of our Manitoba-based companies. We serve as a foundation for the development of a diverse membership and their enterprises.
Manitoba Music works, on a daily basis, directly with the local industry here, building capacity and increasing knowledge to achieve success. Our most recent economic impact study has found that over 4,200 individuals earn an income working in music in Manitoba, and that our industry contributes $71.3 million to Manitoba's GDP. Our industry generated an estimated $25 million to provincial and federal taxes, in 2011.
Manitoba Music would like to thank the Government of Canada for the renewal of the Canada Music Fund. The renewal of the funding will serve to grow the capacity of the music industry and increase our success and competitiveness in international markets. Through the funding we receive from FACTOR, we run the Music Works program.
Music Works is a training program that presents over 30 professional development events in Winnipeg and other select locations in Manitoba. The program sees 550 to 600 participants involved in 1,500 hours of total training. We also access FACTOR funding in support of export marketing ventures, such as international export showcase events, for which we leverage matching funds from provincial sources.
Above this, our membership directly accesses FACTOR and Musicaction programs, which they use to help support their business ventures, examples of which are album recording, album marketing, and tour showcase support. We'd like to note, with pride, that Manitobans routinely punch above their weight in competitive juries and application processes. We attribute this in part to our strong music industry association, which provides training and resources to understand context and to present professional business plans.
Manitoba would like to put forth that provincial music industry associations are growing in importance. The music industry is now completely transformed from the business models it used 10 years ago. In the past decade, distribution systems have moved from physical sales to streaming subscriptions. With these changes, the business has become even more complex, with multitudes of royalties and overlapping rights associated with Internet-based broadcasting and distribution.
The MIAs are filling the gap of artist managers in some cases, in delivering knowledge and training, so that artists entrepreneurs can maximize their revenues and increase profitability. Going forward, we would like to see the continued strengthening of the MIAs. Our regional capacity to work one on one with nascent artists and entrepreneurs is vital to a healthy national music industry.
A significant portion of the Canadian music industry is based in Toronto. Now, with the increased support being offered to Ontario companies—the Ontario Music Fund—our role to nurture and grow western Canadian companies has become even more critical. Regional representation, training in a changing age, and the development of the next wave of entrepreneurs to become the industry of the future, are our focus.
We would like to see continued support of the programs that we in our membership access.
On behalf of Manitoba Music, I'd like to thank the committee for their time and wish them all the best with their research.
Thank you.