Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I wanted to ask Mr. Price a question, first and foremost, since we're talking about copyright. It would be good to discuss the topic with a creator, then to move on to user rights. Since Mr. Schmidt must leave before 5 p.m., I want to make sure that I can talk to him.
When I was part of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, I had the opportunity to hear you speak by video conference from New York. I don't know whether you can answer my question. It concerned figures shared by an artist, songwriter and producer who was well aware of the value of these things. I'm referring to the brother of Pascale Bussières, David Bussières, a member of Alfa Rococo. He had a very successful piece that was played extensively on the radio. I don't have the exact figures on hand, but I know that he earned about $17,000. The piece was a hit about three years ago. I was wondering about the fees paid by Spotify. The fees amounted to $11, as opposed to $17,000 for commercial radio. That's a very clear example. How can this be explained when it was the same piece and about the same period?
Streaming platforms such as Spotify are the dominant model. That's the issue, as Mr. Price said. Everyone here is wonderful. All your products are wonderful. My girlfriend has just subscribed to Spotify, and she loves it. She finds it much better than Apple Music. That's not the issue. As Mr. Price pointed out, the issue is that the people who provide content can no longer make a living off it. I don't know whether you see how clearly these two amounts illustrate the issue. It's the same period, the same type of success and the same type of listeners. In Quebec, on the radio, he earned $17,000, whereas on Spotify, he earned $11.
How can you explain this?