As we speak, Music Canada CEO Patrick Rogers shared his annual “State of the Business” remarks at Departure, adopted by an knowledgeable dialogue concerning the political shifts which are affecting the worldwide music business.
Learn his full remarks beneath.
Good morning,
It’s nice to be right here at Departure.
I wish to thank Randy Lennox, Jackie Dean and Kevin Barton for making this opening time slot obtainable to Music Canada and our annual State of the Business replace. I’d additionally prefer to take a second to congratulate CMW founder Neill Dixon on his lifetime achievement award. Neill was an essential ally to Music Canada for many years and understood the significance of us coming collectively within the daylight and never simply in venues.
Annually, CMW was at all times a time that we may cowl all crucial problems with the day not only for our members however the Canadian business as an entire and we’re thrilled that Departure has given us the chance to do the identical right here, in a brand new setting, with a brand new vibe, with artists and their creations on the centre of the programming.
And it is sensible to have a brand new, refreshed convention and competition as a result of the business has modified. Even for an business that’s at all times innovating, the business has remodeled essentially within the final ten years and the acceleration of that progress seems to be rushing up on a regular basis.
All of that to say, me and the group at Music Canada in addition to Canada’s main labels, are enthusiastic about this week. We’re enthusiastic about who you’ll hear from, and we’re thrilled that Departure stands to be the premiere music convention within the nation.
As we speak, I’m going to start out with saying a few phrases concerning the largest challenges and alternatives going through the worldwide music business and Canada’s place in it. In a second I’ll sit down with journalist Hannah Sung to speak about how the outcomes of final week’s federal election impression these objects.
Tomorrow, Beatdapp’s Founder and Co-CEO Morgan Hayduk and I’ll discuss concerning the Guidelines and Instruments of AI. We’re going to dive into a number of the largest headlines, and speak about what all of it means for the music business.
And importantly, all through the week, members of Canada’s main labels and artists shall be on panels and on the competition all through town.
However let me get again to why I believe Departure is essential for the Canadian music business.
It issues as a result of the world continues to spin quicker and quicker and there may be a lot information. Our intuition to look away threatens to beat the intuition to lean in. However the reply is to verify in on each other. Say what we expect is essential. And replace one another on the issues that we’ve mentioned earlier than.
So let me replace you on two issues that I talked about final 12 months.
I’m going to start out with the one I acquired proper.
Final 12 months, I talked about AI. My journey with AI went from holding out the idea that possibly it actually was a large machine mind listening to music identical to Harrison and Hendrix and arising with its personal music.
To totally realizing that the rationale that generative AI fashions stored producing rip offs of the world’s most well-known music was as a result of the AI was ripping off the world’s most well-known music.
I ought to have identified. As a result of, the largest tutorial and authorized proponents of AI-being-allowed-to-steal-everything, are actually the identical tutorial and authorized proponents that after argued the Web-should-be-able-to-steal-everything not that way back.
Nicely, right here we’re a 12 months later and… the road from AI companies- corporations which have already scraped the web – scraped your music – to coach their fashions – is that copyright is previous and sophisticated and a barrier to innovation. That it’s too onerous to trace down the rightsholders, and it’s means too tough to trace what’s ingested, and even take into consideration placing a value on it.
I for one am glad that they’ve given up on the enormous machine mind stuff. I discovered it tough to wrestle with. I fearful that policymakers would look to AI corporations as tomorrow – a brand new frontier of science and innovation, flying automobiles and the Jetsons. And that in flip cultural industries could be seen as yesterday, golden oldies and the Flintstones.
However below the stress of court docket circumstances and public scrutiny they’ve chosen to combat on – copyright. And copyright is a matter the music business is particularly nicely match to combat. As a result of we simply did this. After years of powerful selections across the streaming financial system, the business is now extra technologically ready to cope with the licensing of AI than some other cultural business on this planet.
The worldwide music business, pushed by streaming, is innovation at its peak. We now have invested within the folks, the infrastructure and the tech that may distribute and license greater than 100,000 new tracks a day, crediting and compensating the entire many rightsholders alongside the best way.
One of many claims that AI-should-be-able-to-steal-everything proponents prefer to say, is that they want textual content and knowledge mining exceptions as a result of most of what they’re ingesting has no worth.
That argument might or might not make sense in relation to medical knowledge units or visitors patterns – however it is unnecessary in music. We put a value on music the entire time and mainly because the inception of iTunes and now streaming, customers have been fortunately paying for it. AI should not be completely different.
Don’t be fooled. Copyright is how artists are paid when their music is performed. To complain about copyright on this enterprise is like the coed who doesn’t wish to be taught spelling or math – and I do know that these very folks will say that they’ve AI for that – however we’re all higher after we perceive the basics of our world, and our business.
And I say this to you as AI proponents are lined up on the doorways of our new authorities (as they’re all over the world) with guarantees of investments, productiveness and jobs if we simply do away with copyright regulation. We should arm the federal government with why that may be a mistake and the hurt that it will do. Curing most cancers, mapping the galaxies and bettering crop yields don’t require stealing your music.
As I mentioned, tomorrow, Morgan Hayduk and I are going to speak extra concerning the alternatives that AI presents the business – the instruments – and the foundations which are required to make them potential. However if you happen to can’t make that, let me go away you with this:
If you wish to defend creators, their artwork, and the human artistic course of as we have now identified it since Michaelangelo – it’s a must to combat to guard copyright.
Okay, now to debate one thing that I acquired improper final 12 months.
If it’s happy with you, I’m going to ease into this a bit and set the context. The very first thing that I wish to let you realize is that the time I spent working in politics left me believing in politics and authorities. I do know, as a result of I’ve first hand expertise of the great that good coverage can do. That cautious consideration by sensible folks can result in essential change.
So from the very starting, I’ve been hopeful concerning the as soon as in a era regulatory course of that the CRTC has undertaken following the passage of C-11. And final 12 months, I gave a speech about how the CRTC ought to flip over each stone, and construct a brand new system for the brand new digital international financial system and I gently warned that we couldn’t regulate streaming with radio guidelines.
… And it solely took about 22 hours after my speech for the CRTC to launch their Section 1 determination which may very well be known as “bringing the overseas streamers into the Canadian broadcasting system” however may be considered “regulating streaming providers like Canadian radio stations”.
I can’t conceal my frustration about this. A part of the frustration comes from understanding how we acquired right here. I get that the elements of the business that depend on authorities funding have seen conventional funding drying up for greater than a decade in each movie and tv in addition to music. Contributions to funding applications primarily based on market consolidation have come to an finish over the dearth of consolidation. Funding primarily based on levies on cable payments have evaporated over cord-cutting. Authorities funding directed to arts and tradition has not met demand, even after ten years of historically pleasant authorities. And now, particularly now, the concept large overseas providers ought to must pay for Canadian content material is a coverage tempting to promote.
However let me be clear: the very best cultural coverage in Canada is one which incentivizes international digital platforms to spend money on Canada. To have Canadians on the bottom, working with Canadian artists, Canadian labels and publishers and Canadian festivals, venues and celebrations.
We should always need Canadian staff, Canadian artist plans, Canadian splash pages and Canadian sponsorship.
However to this point, the need for overseas money has received out. Section 1 of the CRTC course of didn’t acknowledge the contributions to the Canadian business that platforms are already making.
It is a mistake. It is going to result in much less funding in Canada and can ultimately, to the frustration of all, go away us on the lookout for extra money prior to later.
Two weeks in the past, we filed a movement to intervene on the Federal Courtroom of Attraction on the case introduced ahead by the platforms. Our particular method will echo what we have now mentioned from the start: that the investments made by the platforms in Canada should be understood and valued by the regulator as a part of the contribution system. We now have been main stakeholders in parliament and on the CRTC. It solely is sensible that we should always share the views of the business music business with the court docket.
We may also be contributing the remainder of the 12 months to the formal CRTC consultations. Our objective continues to be to assist the CRTC construct the very best regulatory framework for the streaming period in order that Canadian and Indigenous artists can compete with each music ever recorded from in every single place on this planet.
I’m nonetheless hopeful. However hope will not be a plan. We shall be working onerous on this file. Canada deserves a regulatory system as globally impressed as our artists.
I’m already wanting ahead to coming again subsequent 12 months to let you know how we did.
Now, we had an election final week. We’ve acquired quite a bit to speak about. To take action, I’m going to talk with journalist Hannah Sung. You first knew her as a MuchMusic VJ, she now writes on tradition for retailers just like the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and the New York Occasions. She’s the co-founder of Media Girlfriends, an organization that prioritizes inclusion in Canadian media. Asking her to affix me appeared very on model for what Departure is to change into.
Please welcome Hannah Sung.
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