Some of the biggest streaming services in music are banding together to fight against a major piece of Canadian arts legislation – in court and in the court of public opinion.
Spotify, Apple, Amazon and others are taking action against the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s 2024 decision that major foreign-owned streamers with Canadian revenues over $25 million will have to pay 5% of those revenues into Canadian content funds – what the streamers have termed a “Streaming Tax.”
Those funds will go towards established organizations like the non-profits FACTOR Canada and Musicaction, which financially support thousands of musicians and music companies across the country, and which have seen their own resources dramatically drop due to reduced contributions from private broadcasters. It will also go to funds supporting radio and local news.
The CRTC decision was one of the biggest Canadian music stories of last year, and legal challenges from those services, as well as the Motion Picture Association – Canada (which includes Netflix, Disney, Prime Video and the major U.S. producers and distributors of movies and TV), have pushed it into 2025. The courts have paused the payments until the appeal is heard by the Federal Court of Appeal in June of this year.
That pause has already put at least one fund under immediate duress. The Indigenous Music Office had been directed by the CRTC to launch an Indigenous Music Fund with resources from the streamers’ base contributions, but the delay impedes the IMO’s ability to start the new fund.
The conflict over the regulation is turning into a major struggle, one that illustrates the massive changes and challenges that Canadian music is facing in an increasingly digital landscape. It’s a modern wrinkle to a debate that has spanned decades in Canadian music and media.
“At the base of it, the streamers are questioning the validity of CanCon policies,” says Leela Gilday, musician and board chair of the Indigenous Music Office.
The battle isn’t only happening in court, but in online petitions, political speeches and in Instagram posts from one of Canada’s most successful musicians.
“The Canadian government’s new music streaming tax is going to cost you more to listen to the music you love,” says Bryan Adams in a video shared on Instagram.
The “Summer of ‘69” singer, also a noted critic of Canadian Content regulations, has joined a lobby group called DIMA (the Digital Media Association) in publicly arguing against the regulation. DIMA, which represents Amazon, Apple, Spotify and YouTube, launched a campaign last fall titled “Scrap the Streaming Tax.” The campaign warns consumers that the mandated payments “could lead to higher prices for Canadians and fewer content choices” as a result of increased subscription fees.
But many within the industry have welcomed the regulation, including the membership at CIMA, the Canadian Independent Music Association.
“The question for tech companies who are making money in Canada is: is it appropriate for them to contribute to the Canadian music ecosystem?” asks Andrew Cash, president of CIMA.
Head here for much more on this story.
—Rosie Long Decter
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Canadian Music Industry Leaders Lay Out the Issues That Will Define 2025
As the music industry ramps up in the post-holiday break, the agenda is being set. A number of issues have revealed themselves as the big conversations of 2025: AI, arts funding, government policies amidst uncertainty in Ottawa, support of independent promoters and venues, mental health, the divestment of DEI budgets, and many more.
Billboard Canada gathered 10 music industry authorities from music grant FACTOR, the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), Music Publishers Canada and many more to talk about the biggest challenges and opportunities facing Canadian music this year.
Here are just a few highlights:
“For the Canadian-owned sector, the ability to compete in a functioning market is paramount,” says Andrew Cash, president and CEO of CIMA. “However, market concentration among the large foreign-owned multi-nationals labels and tech platforms is now at over-reach. That is why CIMA lodged an official complaint with Canada’s competition bureau after TikTok walked away from its negotiations with Merlin. And it is why independent trade associations in Europe and Australia are raising serious concerns after Universal’s recent purchase of Downtown Music.”
“One of the biggest challenges facing the industry this year will be the divestment of DEI budgets, which have been a big part of the reason we have seen such great diverse talent enter the industry over the last five years,” says Keziah Myers, executive director of ADVANCE – Canada’s Black Music Business Collective. “Managing the shift away from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and reminding the industry that Equity-focused processes should be where their efforts are will be a challenge.”
“The fundamental principles of copyright continue to be challenged by artificial intelligence and the platforms that exploit it,” says Jennifer Brown, CEO of SOCAN. “Canadian music creators stand to lose more than 20% of their annual revenue to generative AI platforms by 2028 if safeguards aren’t put in place to protect their copyrights.”
Read the whole roundtable conversation here.
—Kerry Doole and Richard Trapunski
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Big Wreck Named Record Store Day Canada Ambassadors for 2025
Big Wreck have been named 2025 Record Store Day Canada ambassadors. The Canadian rock band will also be releasing their 2012 album Albatross on vinyl for the first time in deluxe 2xLP limited-edition featuring live and unreleased music as a Record Store Day exclusive. The album was certified Gold and was their biggest hit since In Loving Memory Of… in 1997 and its big shiny rock radio staple “That Song.” The title track of Albatross has also gone Platinum.
“It’s a great honour for Big Wreck to be Record Store Day Ambassadors,” says Big Wreck leader Ian Thornley. “We grew up going to record stores and building our vinyl collections and it means a lot to us to continue the tradition. It’s especially exciting to be putting Albatross out into the world for the first time on vinyl. That record holds a special place.”
Big Wreck succeeds another popular Canadian rock band of the era, The Tragically Hip, who were last year’s ambassadors. This week, Post Malone was named 2025 Record Store Day Ambassador for the U.S.
Head here for a list of participating Record Store Day Canada stores.
—Richard Trapunski
Last Week: A Closer Look at Canada’s Export Power
