Video — Video Miniseries: Ensuring the economic sustainability of artists and creators in the digital age — National Culture Summit: The Future of Arts, Culture and Heritage in Canada, Ottawa, May 2-4, 2022
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Video transcript of Video Miniseries: Ensuring the economic sustainability of artists and creators in the digital age — National Culture Summit: The Future of Arts, Culture and Heritage in Canada, Ottawa, May 2-4, 2022
Durée de la vidéo : 05:58
[♪ Music – The National Culture Summit branding and the video theme appear. Text on screen: National Culture Summit: The future of arts, culture and heritage, Economic sustainability of artists and creators in the digital age]
Sophie Prégent – President of Union des artistes: [Translated from French] I think that digital technology is a powerful tool for our artists. We learned how to use these tools in a new way during the pandemic, and I would go so far as saying that they have become essential. I think it provides an incredible discoverability tool because it sparks curiosity. It is accessible, but it is not an end in itself. In fact, it should not be an end in itself. Digital technology is a tool: it is a resource that is available to us, and it is a way of reaching a new audience.
Gabriel Pelletier – President of Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec: [Translated from French] The problem is in how that money is distributed. It also has to reach the artists themselves. Today’s musicians cannot make a living when their work is shared. The same thing is happening in television and film. Our work is shared, but the earnings do not make their way to the actual artists and creators. There has to be some form of redistribution.
Jérôme Payette – Executive Director of Professional Music Publishers' Association: [Translated from French] In order to have a reliable environment, the most important thing is to get our music to the public. Regardless of the platform, if no one listens to the content, the rights holders do not get paid. Needless to say, if people are not familiar with the music, it affects ticket and merch sales. Added to all this is the fact that we currently have a big problem, especially in Quebec, where our market share has dropped significantly. Twenty years ago, it accounted for roughly 50% of physical sales. Now our market share is around 8% of online music services. As you can see, it is a really dramatic drop, and it is even worse for Francophone music from Quebec.
Jordan Officer – Singer-songwriter, Musician and Producer: When all the shows got cancelled, the tours got cancelled in 2020, that is when we realized that what used to be half of our income, which was putting on albums, had become hardly any income. It was kind of a wake-up call. We realized that our music, our record industry was not functioning, was not sustainable. And cellular, internet providers were making, you know, 50% profit margins, you know, delivering the content, you know, companies manufacturing the devices were making money, obviously streaming platforms, and it was just something that did not work, it was not sustainable for artists, for producers of content. To me, the most important thing is just to bring things up to date. The streaming industry needs to be [Translated from French] better regulated, because [Canada] is one of the only countries where there is no minimum royalty, where the streaming services are not paying taxes, they are not paying taxes on users' information that is sold, they are not paying taxes on advertising platforms. So, it is just a big [Translated from French] update that has to happen.
Liana White – Executive Director of Canadian Federation of Musicians: The total health of any online streaming platform is not being considered. They distribute funds, or make their deals based on their subscriber base only. What is not being considered are shares, advertising revenues and many other revenues that they do not put on the table, they just do everything on a subscriber base. They have much more money that can be extended to artists and creators for their works. They would not have a platform if it was not for creators, and this needs to be kept in mind.
Margaret McGuffin – Chief Executive Officer of Music Publishers Canada: Canadian music publishers embrace the digital world. A song can be reinvented in many new ways on different platforms and in different new technologies. That is exciting, and we want to embrace and look at new opportunities. At the same time, we need rules. We need rules to make sure the Canadian creators and the companies that invested in them are paid. And we need to make sure that there is an opportunity for Canadians to hear Canadian stories and hear Canadian songs.
Jeffrey Young – Entertainment, Media & Sports Lawyer: We just have to understand all aspects of it, we have to look at economic viability of the way that we produce that content and then provide access to the appropriate and economic tools that will allow for that.
Jordan Officer – Singer-songwriter, Musician and Producer: Everything is going to be invented now, but things have to move fast, all these things are urgent. So, the more people say it, the more people understand it, the better. And music consumers really want to feel good about how they consume music too, and lovers of culture in general. But it is just the whole structure around it has to evolve and be brought up to date. Consumers should not feel bad about how they consume music and art.
Annick Charette – President of Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture: [Translated from French] I think that today’s digital environment should be considered as a global broadcasting space for all cultural and artistic productions. In other words, all art and culture can find its niche through digital distribution. Financial support from the government and sponsors should also focus on this type of production to help them become more competitive in a global marketplace. Digital distribution is international, so artists are competing on a global stage. That is how the paradigm has shifted. In the past, distribution was like our own little world. Now we exist in a world where there are many more players, players we do not know and players who are much more important. There are also greater forces at work with respect to money. So, yes, it is an interesting paradigm and challenge for the future.
[♪ Music – The National Culture Summit branding appears. Text on screen: Thank you to the stakeholders from the Canadian arts, culture and heritage sectors who took the time to share their thoughts.]
[♪ Music – The Canada Wordmark appears.]
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