It's good to see you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for this opportunity.
My name is Patrick Rogers, and I'm the interim co-CEO of Music Canada. I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to speak today.
Music Canada is the trade association to Canada's major record labels: Sony Music Entertainment Canada, Universal Music Canada and Warner Music Canada. Normally, our work focuses on promoting and protecting the value of music, which helps artists and the businesses that support them to thrive and contribute to our economy and culture. However, in March when the Canadian music industry was forced to cancel the Junos the same week as North American sports were shut down, and as Canadians stopped gathering in large numbers, our members directed us to focus our efforts and resources on helping the most vulnerable individuals in our industry: artists, crews and everyone working the live-music space. The livelihoods of these individuals were among the first to be hit by the pandemic and will be among the last to recover.
To help ensure that governments at all levels had accurate information to understand the pandemic's impacts and to develop effective relief measures, we partnered with Abacus Data to conduct national polling about how the pandemic was affecting artists and their fans. One study surveyed over 700 professional musicians so that we could better understand the impacts through their lens.
Here are some important numbers.
The report found that professional musicians perform, on average, nearly 100 times a year, typically travelling across Canada and the world to do so. Revenue generated from live performances in turn helped support an average of 11 other people, such as band members, technicians and other industry jobs. A staggering 85% of musicians agreed that without live performances they will have difficulty earning enough to pay the bills.
The most important number is zero. There are zero live shows, zero festivals and zero gigs as artists, fans and the industry have understood them for generations. With this in mind, we've spent the pandemic amplifying the voices of artists in settings like this and assisting colleagues and organizations, like Erin Benjamin of the Canadian Live Music Association, as they work to highlight the difficulties being faced by venues and the artists who play in them.
In addition to surveying artists, we also commissioned a separate national survey of Canadians, with a first round released in May and an update in August. Those results were similarly startling. They underscored that the virus will keep Canadians, including identified music lovers, home long after they're allowed to attend events. About one in two of those live-music lovers believes that it will be six months or more after government restrictions lift before they'll feel safe returning to live shows and festivals, small and large indoor venues, and elsewhere. As time progresses, that concern has risen significantly.
Our research also confirms something that we knew to be true: Canadians miss live music. While watching a concert online might scratch the itch, it's no substitute for the feeling you get from being at a live show. Canadians love live music, and they've told us that they desperately want to go back when they believe it's safe to do so.
We know that live music will eventually return with the same energy and significance that it previously had, but government support is critical to ensure that it exists when we come out the other side. How do we get to the other side? Artists and individuals working in our sector need to receive continued and direct financial support—like the Canada recovery benefit—for as long as live-music venues are regulated, closed or only partially open across the country. These funds will be needed for longer than many expect. As we are witnessing now, the need will increase if the public health situation worsens.
Lastly, Music Canada and our industry colleagues came to this committee last year to discuss the need for copyright reform. Virtually the entire Canadian music industry asked that a few simple amendments be made to the Copyright Act to help ensure that artists are paid when their music is played. The report from this committee, “Shifting Paradigms”, provides a great road map for upholding that principle.
I hope that this committee and the government will return to that work soon because with the pandemic eliminating opportunities to tour for artists, the fallacy that artists don't need copyright protection has been exposed for the myth that it always was.
I'd like to thank the parliamentary secretary for her continued championing of this principle, both during the writing of the report and now in her new role.
I hope that, as you turn your minds to assisting the music community in the face of the pandemic, you will again recommend addressing those copyright measures, which will help bring relief.
Thank you for your time today. I'd be pleased to answer any of your questions.