Canadian Heritage committee  Is that question specifically for me, or in general?

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll start with the Copyright Board point. Monsieur Lauzon has touched on this as well. If you look at Music Canada's report, “The Next Big Bang”, they also advocate for additional resources at the Copyright Board. The notion of education of the marketplace is something which Connect Music Licensing as well as every other rights holder collective probably in Canada is continually doing.

Canadian Heritage committee  Okay. Well, I think in terms of educating the marketplace, on the two initial solutions proposed while I was speaking this morning, I don't think they're incredibly costly in terms of making sure there's space on a website: Service Canada, how do I start my business? Here are all the forms you need to fill out, here are the taxes you need to pay, and then here's a section on entertainment in your venue.

Canadian Heritage committee  I've been focusing my points today strictly on what Connect Music Licensing does, which is collect money for rights holders and remit it to them. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I really do recommend Music Canada's “The Next Big Bang”, because they have specifically looked at education in terms of bringing that into classrooms.

Canadian Heritage committee  I did, yes. We have three items that we would love to see in recommendations for a review of the music industry. The first one is to educate the marketplace so that rights holders know how to access funds and music users respect the obligation to pay for music use. The second one is to provide additional resources to the Copyright Board.

Canadian Heritage committee  I mean generally, not necessarily relating strictly to the Canada Music Fund. As an integral part of an overall review of the industry, these are the three pillars we would like to bring in. The third is a commitment from the government to make sure that any institution it is responsible for licenses music use.

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely.

Canadian Heritage committee  Certainly. Actually, one of the things I'd like to draw to the committee's attention is that Music Canada published a report called, “The Next Big Bang”. It identified several pillars that could lead to improved and future success of the industry. One of those pillars was education.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. My name is Victoria Shepherd. I am here on behalf of Connect Music Licensing, which represents over 1,800 rights holder members. Our members own the vast majority of sound recordings and music videos listened to and watched in Canada.