Canadian record labels are worried about new rules that may be placed on streaming with Bill C-11. Hear them out.
If you’ve been following the various tech-related legislation winding its way through the Canadian federal government, you’ll know about Bill C-11, also known as the online streaming act. While it is now law, implementation still hasn’t happened as everyone wants to be consulted on what’s next.
In the case of streaming, C-11 will required digital services such as music streamers to promote Canadian content. Great, in theory. But how?
Patrick Rogers, the head of recorded industry group Music Canada, is concerned about the streamers forcing Canadian music on everyone in an indiscriminate, sledgehammer sort of way. He had this to say to The Globe and Mail:
“We’re the music industry – we know what happens when we stop serving our fans. They go elsewhere. My concern is, if you like 1970s British rock and we give you something different – no matter where it’s from – you’re going to skip.
“There’s a lot of good stuff going on and we want to help make everything more Canadian the best that we can. But it’s not by finding ways to interrupt people’s experience.”
In other words, don’t restrict user choice at the expense of pushing Canadian music. That risks pushing people to illegal sites and VPNs. Rogers says that 28% of Canadians–and 42% of 16-24 year-olds–get their music from unlicensed sites.
The best solution? Have the streamers contribute to a fund for the development and promotion of Canadian music, just like Canadian broadcasters have to do now. Radio has been contributing to FACTOR and Starmaker for years. Legacy broadcasters also have to contribute annually to something called Canadian Content Development. Those initiatives have helped Canadian music become a powerhouse on the world stage.
Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and the rest of them do not contribute to any of this development and promotion. That doesn’t seem right, does it?
Read more on the situation here.
Everything the Trudeau admin touches turns to absolute crap. I’ve never seen such resolve from a political side trying to push something through that so many people are against. You get a taste of this with news sites and FB and Twitter not linking to Canadian news, thus, those organization will get less traffic. And any savvy user already has a VPN, I see VPN sales in Canada spiking at least until 2025 when there is an election and this admin is gone, hopefully replaced by the other side who will remove this legislation. I’ve always voted liberal but the past 3 really show that you should not elect someone on name recognition.