Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses. I appreciate your time and your testimony.
I would like to start with Monsieur Payette from the Professional Music Publishers' Association.
You mentioned that publishing and songwriting are linked, and that's a sector that's seeing first-hand the effects of technology and media evolving and the impact it's had on artists. In your words, Monsieur Payette, you said that if musicians are not listened to, they're not paid, and I firmly believe that.
We've seen that the growth in the music business has benefited many international platforms and some of our larger Canadian artists, but we've also seen that it has not proportionately supported a large segment of our Canadian artists, artists from our own communities.
In your opening statement, you mentioned the struggle and that the percentages from songwriting royalties are down. Do you mind expanding on those numbers and the fact that if we're not supporting our Canadian artists at all levels, we won't have these stories to tell, we won't create the environment where our talent can grow, we won't have those international voices on the world stage, both literally and virtually?