Good afternoon. We are before you today on behalf of SOCAN. We represent the rights to musical works of our 160,000 members, songwriters, music composers and music publishers. In short, we grant licenses, and collect the rights arising therefrom, notably from traditional broadcasters—radio and television—and digital audio and audio-visual platforms, for the use of music as part of their business.
Because of this, we see the two perspectives of the economic value of music, the value for rights holders and the value for music listeners. It seemed important to us to come and testify before you to make a few points of clarification.
From the outset, like many players in the music ecosystem, we welcome Bill C-10. We believe that subjecting digital platforms to the same legislative and regulatory conditions as those applicable to all Canadian broadcasters will end the distinction that the music industry has been decrying for years.
When we compared distributions made to Canadian music rights holders with what was distributed to foreign writers in regard to uses in media, we came to a devastating conclusion. In digital media, royalties paid to Canadian creators were three times lower than those related to uses in traditional media. The average percentage for traditional was 33.9% over the past six years—