Question Period Note: Funding Support for the Music Industry

On April 17, Prime Minister announced a $ 500 million investment in the creation of the COVID-19 Emergency Fund to support organizations responsible for culture, heritage and sport. On May 8 2020, the Minister of Canadian Heritage announced the main features of this emergency fund which is intended to help these organizations to plan for the future through temporary relief measures as well as to retain jobs and ensure the continuity of the activities of organizations whose viability is in danger due to COVID-19. It is administered by Canadian Heritage with the support of its partners.

• The government announced a $ 500M Emergency Fund for culture, heritage and sport in order to meet the specific needs of the sector.
• In recognition of the valuable role that the Canadian music industry plays in strengthening the social and economic fabric of our communities and country. $ 34.2M was allocated to the Canada Music Fund.
• This investment supported the current recipients of the Canada Music Fund, the live music sector as well as sound recording studios and music video producers.

• The Canada Music Fund (CMF) aims to foster an environment where a diversity of Canadian music artists connect with audiences everywhere, providing the essential up-front support needed to develop Canadian artists and sharing the risk with Canadian-owned music entrepreneurs. With an annual ongoing budget of $24.3 million (Vote 5), the CMF provides support to Canadian music artists and entrepreneurs for the production and marketing of Canadian sound recordings, domestic and international touring and showcasing, digital market development, professional conferences, and awards shows and events that enhance the visibility of Canadian artists. Budget 2019 announced additional resources of $20 million over two years, in 2019-20 and 2020-2021, for the CMF. Specifically, Budget 2019 stated that ‘With the modernized Canada Music Fund’, Canadian artists will have access to more resources and tools to market their music on digital platforms, and will be able to spend more time touring to help their music to be heard at home and abroad. The 2020-2021 fiscal year is the second and last year for the CMF to receive these additional resources.
• The 2020-2021 Vote 5 resources dedicated to the CMF amount to $36,649,231. These Vote 5 resources include $1.15 million delivered as part of Canada’s Action Plan for Official Languages, $2.5 million, from 2018-2019 to 2022-2023, in trade specific support through Canada’s Creative Export Strategy and, an amount of $100,000 for the CMF in 2020-2021 to improve the collection of disaggregated data and strengthen reporting requirements relating to Gender-based Analysis plus.
• All stakeholders in the music industry submitted their views that the sector needed emergency funding given that many of the federal measures announced did not apply to the reality of organizations and companies of the industry. The music industry stakeholders therefore welcomed this additional funding, including the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) and the Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ), who have been asking for an increase to the CMF budget for a number of years in the face of severe disruptions brought forth by digital distribution, including streaming services.
• Of the $500M Emergency Fund, $34.2M was allocated to the CMF through FACTOR (English-language market) and Musicaction (French-language market) as follows:
o Phase 1: $9.2M to current CMF recipients (a top-up of 25 percent of the contribution amount they received in 2019-20);
o Phase 2 - part 1: $20M for Canadian music entrepreneurs and organizations in the live music sector that do not normally receive funding from the CMF. This includes, among others, booking agents, concert promoters, for-profit festivals and venues.
o Phase 2 - part 2: $5M for Canadian owned-sound recording studios, music video producers, record labels and music publishers (who did not receive support through the CMF in 2019 2020).
• In addition to this emergency support, stakeholders of the music industry have ask for making permanent the supplementary funding of $10M annually allocated to the CMF in the Budget 2019. Also, they are asking for an additional investment of $10M in the CMF for two years to ensure the full recovery of the Canadian music industry from the COVID-19 crisis. The live music sector have expressed their ask to the federal government to develop a multi-year $50M fund to stimulate and support event activity and safeguard the future viability and success of Canada’s live music sector.
• Overall, these resources are intended to allow the Canadian music industry to continue to exist during and beyond the pandemic and ultimately will continue to i) produce and promote a diversity of Canadian music in a world of choice, ii) to be competitive in national and international markets and iii) and to contribute to Canada's creative economy.

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