Thank you for this opportunity to be here today.
I'm here with Vince Degiorgio. He is the chair of the Canadian Music Publishers Association and owner of CYMBA Music Publishing. Vince, as you will hear, is a music publisher and he is a songwriter. His voice adds much to this discussion.
While some musicians record their own songs, there are many who do not. Instead, they either co-write their tracks with songwriters or perform songs written by other songwriters. Additionally, there are many composers who create the soundtracks of your favourite movies and television shows. They do not have celebrity names but are part of a very important creative economy in Canada.
Canadian Music Publishers Association represents music publishers of all sizes, although most of our members are small or medium-sized businesses like Vince's. These companies all represent and invest in thousands of Canadian songs, songwriters, and composers who are heard daily on the radio, on streaming services, in video games, and in film and television productions around the world.
A music publisher is a partner in the creative process. Music publishers are innovators, and their strong export strategies have allowed these entrepreneurs to compete internationally, with two-thirds of their revenues now coming from foreign sources. Simply put, we can't count on one market alone to be successful.
Music publishing is about championing a songwriter and a song through the lifetime of their career and a song's copyright. Our members take a long-term perspective and work a lot behind the scenes to create value. The most valuable songs can be covered over and over again and continue to be heard in audio-visual productions long after the first recording.
For example, Neville Quinlan of PeerMusic is a music publisher member with both a large foreign catalogue and a Canadian one that includes the songs of The Tragically Hip and Royal Wood. A number of Peer's titles will come into public domain soon because of Canada's copyright legislation not being in line with international standards. Several songs in Peer's catalogues are classics, which are licensed in movies, television shows, or commercial advertisements. These are known as syncs. Day to day these songs may not generate much money. However, holding onto that copyright over an extra 20 years can translate into thousands of dollars if a good deal is in place. One or two songs in a catalogue can make a huge difference to the viability of a music publisher. The strongest and most stable publishers are those who own a balanced portfolio of songs including proven older catalogues and newer creations. The revenues from those tried-and-true songs allow a music publisher to take a risk, to invest in an emerging songwriter. Neville just signed a publishing deal with the members of the Jerry Cans and has already found them sync placements.
For this reason we ask you to extend the term of copyright in works to the life of the author plus 70 years, consistent with the international standards and consistent with our major trading partners.
I would also like to address the value gap that is the result of safe harbour laws and exceptions. It is important that Parliament not introduce new exceptions that play havoc with the lives of creators and small business. We also ask that you re-examine the exceptions that were introduced in 2012 and amend the section on network services to address the value gap by treating Internet intermediaries as more than dumb pipes and making them liable for infringing activities in certain circumstances.
Additionally, if the music publishing sector is to thrive, the private copying regime should be technologically neutral. Meanwhile the digital marketplace has remained anything but stagnant over the last few years. Improving the efficiency of the Copyright Board's processes and timelines and predictability of its decisions through a combination of legislated and regulatory changes is essential. We know that work has started on this and appreciate that this has been prioritized.
The word “transparency” has already surfaced many times in this hearing. I am proud to live in Canada where the collective societies that work for music publishers, composers, and songwriters are some of the best in the world. They deal in the world of micropayments and report back to their stakeholders in a transparent and efficient manner. Our collectives and music publisher members continue to invest millions of dollars in metadata and in technology. We have also heard in the past two weeks about the need for more education. We agree. As a trade organization, we have partnered with WorkInCulture to look at skill gaps in the industry and look at rolling out training programs to new employees at music publishing companies and to others in the industry, such as managers and labels who may need to learn more about how to monetize their copyrights on a global basis.
We look forward to the opportunity to discuss these proposals and other potential solutions with government representatives through the review process.