The body representing songwriters and composers of Canada has revealed that, on average, musicians who write their own materials earned just $67 last year in royalties from domestic streaming services. SOCAN, which is responsible for collecting musicians' royalties, including some celebrities like Drake, Joni Mitchell and Down with Webster, stated that Canadians overall gained record royalties from streaming platforms last year.
SOCAN
is a not-for-profit body that collects payments from TV stations, radio
stations, and digital platforms, including but not limited to YouTube, Spotify,
and many others. In a new financial report, SOCAN said that the collections for
licensed music are expected to exceed $416 million a year for the first time in
history. Those figures will be confirmed when an annual report is shared in
June.
Though the pandemic led people to stream
music more as they were at home, there were no big earnings for Canadian
songwriters represented by SOCAN. They earned an average of just $67.14 in
royalties from Canadian digital streaming services last year.
In an interview, the CEO of SOCAN, Jennifer
Brown, stated that though artists like The Weeknd and Drake are played
regularly, less well-known songwriters struggle to get promoted in Canada. She
said that the law before Parliament might help. This law would oblige streaming
platforms to add more Canadian music to playlists in Canada so that musicians
can get supported to get started and get a career boost.
The law she refers to is Bill C-11, which
is being debated now. If passed, it will make digital platforms like YouTube
and Spotify promote Canadian music just like traditional radio stations that
give Canadian music allotted airtime. As radio and digital platforms work
differently, the bill will give flexibility about how to promote Canadian
musicians' work.
Brown said that it's vital for listeners
and songwriting talent that all platforms showcase Canadians to get discovered
and reach a wider audience. She also predicted that SOCAN's collections from
digital platforms would overtake collections from traditional sources like
airtime on radio stations in the near future.
Brown also said that young artists might
not be keen to have a career in music when they find out how little Canadian
musicians earn from digital platforms.
University of Ottawa's Canada Research
Chair in internet law, Michael Geist, said making platforms "force-feed"
Canadian content might suggest that the music is less popular than it is in
reality. It might lead to it being downgraded by algorithms of the streaming
platforms. He also wanted that the bill might impact the amount of revenue
Canadian musicians earn from outside the country on different digital
platforms.
Brown stated that certain measures in the
bill would introduce more listeners to Canadian music and ensure that Canadian
musicians could earn more royalties.
The rights management body, whose members
include Gordon Lightfoot, Michael Buble, and the estate of Leonard Cohen, collected
$135 million last year from the use of music on the internet alone. It also collected
royalties from streaming platforms such as Netflix
for theme tunes penned by Canadian songwriters and composers.
Sources:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/canadian-songwriters-made-67-in-royalties-on-average-from-digital-platforms-in-2021-1.5842267
https://www.baytoday.ca/national-news/canadian-songwriters-made-on-average-67-in-royalties-from-digital-platforms-in-2021-5217207#:~:text=OTTAWA%20%E2%80%94%20The%20body%20representing%20Canada's,royalties%20from%20domestic%20streaming%20services.
https://www.cheknews.ca/canadian-songwriters-made-on-average-67-in-royalties-from-digital-platforms-in-2021-998976/