this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2024
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Major music companies send letter to Canada’s CRTC, urging it not to regulate streaming as if it were radio (www.musicbusinessworldwide.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 91 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Under those rules, streaming services that are not Canadian-owned and have more than CAD $25 million (approx. USD $18.5 million)  in revenue in Canada annually are required to pay 5% of that revenue into funds that subsidize Canadian content and creators.

Under that plan, 1.5% of music streamers’ revenue would go towards subsidies for local radio stations.

Lol, yea, pay your fucking taxes, grifters.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Unfortunately, that 5% fee means Spotify prices are going up 10%

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sure. That just means that Canadian consumers of Spotify will be indirectly subsidizing Canadian artists.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I see no problem here.

Well, assuming you see having domestic content as a valid goal, anyway, which isn't necessarily a given.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sure but then they pay more taxes. Increase in price means more revenue which means more taxes. It’s just a circle.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

That's why they raise it by 10%, not 5%.

Say sub is currently $100/year, they now have to pay $5, they get $5 less. If they raise by 5% to $105, they have to pay $5.25, they get 25c less than originally. But if they raise to $110, they have to pay $5.50, and suddenly they are getting $4.50 more than before, even though they are paying more taxes. And they can blame it on this so people don't hate them as much and accept it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If I remember something kn my econ 101 class, they're going up 2.5%, because taxes are not entirely pass to the consumer, they take a part of the company earnings too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

He ce Spotify prives going up 10, to make sure company profits are covered and then some

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Interesting that they're pumping back money into traditional radio.

The letter argued that Canada’s radio regulations were designed to address the problems created by its vast geography, its “linguistic duality” (English and French), and the fact that space on analog radio is limited, making decisions about what gets broadcast necessary.

Gee, that's not the history I remember. I'm not super familiar, but wasn't it about holding back Americanisation? (We have radio band allocations separately)

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 weeks ago

Awww those poor poor billion dollar corporations.... So sad.... /s

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Does the CRTC do anything to help Canada at this point? They've allowed all telecoms/media to be merged down to 2 and a half entities. They've allowed cell and internet service prices to be the highest in the western world. They've forced CanCon rules that subsidize media monopolies while driving viewers to non-Canadian platforms. And now they are going to drive other services out of Canada at the request of those same media monopolies.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You think Spotify is going to pull out of Canada because they make $23.75m a year instead of $25m? 🙄🙄🙄

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

There are streaming services that already are not available in Canada because we are too small of a market to be worth the hassle. Increasing that hassle will not make the situation better.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago

Oh no, don't tax the megacorps, that's mean CRTC, how could you?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The letter argued that Canada’s radio regulations were designed to address the problems created by its vast geography, its “linguistic duality” (English and French), and the fact that space on analog radio is limited, making decisions about what gets broadcast necessary.

Citation needed DiMA. Way to try framing the issue to look in your favour.

Instead of those "issues" we now have locked down apps and opaque algorithms that reduce user control.

To be fair I have found some good stuff through the recommendations, but I also don't know how often they try to boost certain artists because of back room deals. Companies need regulations to keep them slightly honest.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

My understanding was always that Canadian media is dominated by American creations in the art world. The regulations were put in place to subsidize the Canadian artists to help create a national identity separate from the US.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago

Fuck 'em. They are parasites on the artistic world.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

If the music industry is against it, I'm for it. I don't even need to know what it is.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Funny how it's never the artists themselves who have concerns

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The CRTC absolutely needs to adapt and relegislate/reinforce CanCon for the digital era. Ensuring Canadian artists get represented in Canada on some of the biggest streaming platforms is super important.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

If CanCon gave more visibility to ALL Canadian artists, sure. The way it is on the radio, it seems that you don't have to be a good Canadian band, you just have to be a Canadian artist.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This hasn't been the case since the 1990s or so, when CanCon started to actually get good.

I will agree it sucked through the 70s and 80s, though. There was a looooong incubation period between the time CanCon took effect and the time it bore fruit in, eg, Canadian bands stopped sucking en-masse.

Alan Cross has a good podcast on CanCon and the long tail it required. I don't think modern governments can or will do anything like that again, where the payoff is decades after the costs and implementation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'll have to check that Alan Cross podcast out. I used to love his History of New Music shows on the radio. I never really got into the podcast thing, but I could see myself getting into one if it was hosted by him

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

The only issue with the podcast is that he cant get rights for the entire song, so it's not quite the same as radio.

It's still as wonderful as the show was in all the other ways.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't understand why streaming should support radio ? They should support artists and new artist via taxes though, that makes total sense.

But the radio ..?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not sure where you're getting that from—this isn't about anyone helping radio stations. The idea is that the government would impose laws and taxes on large streaming services operating in Canada that are somewhat similar to those currently imposed on radio stations in Canada.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh ok, I thought I read that a small percentage of those taxes would go to local radio somehow.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The actual relevant source document appears to be this: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2024/2024-121.htm. Judging from that, some of the money will go to funds that subsidize the production of local news programs in any medium (including radio), and there's a small amount earmarked for community radio. It's supposed to encourage the stations to create and broadcast content that's beneficial to the general public but not as profitable as what they might otherwise air in its place. If you consider that to be "helping" radio stations, then fine, I concede, but to be honest, the specific details of where the money ends up aren't the major point here, and will probably change over time.

I expect domestic radio stations pay into many of the same funds, although to be honest I've never checked. If we actually had a Canadian-owned streaming service that was willing to produce news programs or one of the other categories the government wants to encourage, they might get some money too. Including some of what's coming from the radio stations, because no one is making an attempt to keep the revenue streams coming from different sources separate . . . and really, why should they? It's extra administrative overhead to no real benefit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

It's fine by me, I misunderstood the 'helping' radio station part so it's irrelevant. Thanks for the clarification!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Because streaming is international while radio is local.

If international sites wanna play their music in Canada, then they should pay for the privilege.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't understand why streaming services need to help radio stations. Are radio station sharing their profit as well ?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Under those rules, streaming services that are not Canadian-owned and have more than CAD $25 million (approx. USD $18.5 million) in revenue in Canada annually are required to pay 5% of that revenue into funds that subsidize Canadian content and creators.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Are radio station sharing their profit as well ?

They always have.

And this **isn't ** about streaming services helping radio stations, its about supporting Canadian content creators.