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1.SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) is pleased to participate in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2024-288. We are Canada’s largest rights management organization and represent over 190,000 English and French-Canadian songwriters, composers, and music publishers as our members and clients, and we license tens of thousands of organizations and businesses to play and reproduce music across Canada. We collect and distribute royalties to our members and clients, along with the millions of creators we represent through reciprocal agreements with international rights management organizations. We request to appear at the public hearing.
2.We support the submissions of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (“SCGC”) and ACCORD. The music composer key creative point must be maintained as it currently exists in the definition of “Canadian program” and that no amendment to this point should be made. While supporting the greater use of pre-existing Canadian music is an admirable goal, such support should not come at the expense of Canadian screen composers. Canadian broadcasting policy should reward the use of recordings to supplement – not replace – the original work of Canadian screen composers.
3.We will not further reiterate the points of SCGC and ACCORD on this issue and encourage the Commission to review those submissions as to why the music composer key creative point needs to be maintained and the alternative proposal to encourage greater use of pre-existing Canadian music through production spending requirements.
4.Instead, SOCAN is providing additional information and context for the Commission to consider when making its decision in this important consultation.
Canadian Music Should Not Be Competing Against Itself
5.SOCAN is in the unique position to have a birds-eye view of music consumption in Canada. We collect licence fees for all public performances of music and process billions of lines of music usage data every quarter. We collect for all types of music used in audiovisual programs – whether this is original composed music for a production or pre-existing or pre-recorded songs that are licensed and then synced to a production. We also represent both the screen composers creating original music and the songwriters, composers and their music publishers who created pre-existing or pre-recorded music.
6.We have previously identified to the Commission that Canadians are turning to digital platforms to consume audiovisual and audio content, and that the market share for Canadian music on these platforms is unacceptably low.
7.For example, in 2023 when we looked at distributions made to SOCAN writer members (inclusive of original composed music and pre-existing music) from revenues collected on digital audiovisual platforms from domestic use, less than six cents of every dollar collected is distributed to SOCAN writer members.
8.We note that while this market share number reflects Canadian music used in all audiovisual productions (whether or not defined as a Canadian program), the point we are making is that Canadian music already has to compete with all other music in the world for inclusion in audiovisual productions. It would be counterintuitive in the definition of a “Canadian program” to further segment Canadian music into different types (i.e. original composition or pre-existing music) and make them compete with one other.
9.Instead, it is important to encourage the use of both original Canadian compositions and Canadian pre-existing music in the definition of Canadian programs by maintaining the music composer key creative point and creating a new requirement that at least 75% of the music budget go towards Canadian pre-existing and pre-recorded music to provide an opportunity for that market share to increase.
Artificial Intelligence
10.The Commission poses a number of questions on artificial intelligence and whether AI-generated material can be considered Canadian content.
11.The law is clear that if AI-generated material does not fit the legal definition of an original work, meaning it is not an exercise of an individual’s skill and judgment, then it would not be protected by copyright. Simply inputting a prompt into an AI system and having that AI system create an output based on that input is not sufficient for that output to obtain copyright protection. As a result, if an AI-generated output is not protected by copyright and is not legally considered as emanating from a Canadian author, it is difficult to see how that material could be considered Canadian content.
Conclusion
12.We agree with the SCGC and ACCORD submissions that maintaining the current music composer key creative point in the definition of Canadian program is imperative to ensuring that Canadians are hired in this position. We also agree that incentivizing the greater use of pre-existing Canadian music is an admirable goal but should not compete with the use of original Canadian compositions.
13.SOCAN thanks the Commission for its consideration of SOCAN’s intervention in this important consultation. We would be pleased to answer any questions the Commission may have.
Read the ACCORD submission.