Question Period Note: Funding Support for the Music Industry

Budget 2021 proposed to provide $70 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Canadian Heritage for the Canada Music Fund to help Canadian musicians, concert venues, producers, and distributors. This includes up to $50 million in 2021-22 to help the live music sector, including music venues weather the pandemic. The remaining $20 million is to support the program’s recent modernization and will be delivered over 2022-23 and 2023-24.

• Budget 2021 announced $70 million in funding over three years, starting in 2021-2022, to Canadian Heritage (PCH) for the Canada Music Fund (CMF) to help Canadian musicians, concert venues, producers, and distributors.
• This amount includes up to $50 million to help the live music sector weather the pandemic.
• The remaining $20 million is a two-year extension of increased funding to support the continued modernization of the CMF aimed at creating winning conditions for Canadian artists to be competitive in Canada and abroad, and connecting Canadian artists with audiences.

• 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. Budget 2021 further announced additional resources of $20 million over two years, in 2022-23 and 2023-24, to stabilize the overall environment faced by current recipients of the CMF.
• On April 17, 2020, 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. $32.9 million was delivered to the CMF through FACTOR (Anglophone market) and Musicaction (Francophone market) as follows:
o Phase 1: $7.9 million to current CMF recipients (a top-up of 25 percent of the contribution amount they received in 2019-20);
o Phase 2: $25 million for Canadian music entrepreneurs and organizations in the live music sector that do not normally receive funding from the CMF and those who did not receive support through the CMF in 2019 2020. This includes, among others, booking agents, concert promoters, for-profit festivals and venues as well as Canadian owned-sound recording studios, music video producers, record labels and music publishers.
• In addition to this emergency support, music industry stakeholders asked to make permanent the supplementary funding of $10 million annually allocated to the CMF in Budget 2019. They also asked for an additional investment of $10 million in the CMF for two years to ensure the full recovery of the Canadian music industry from the COVID-19 crisis. Finally, the live music sector requested that the federal government develop a multi-year $50 million fund to stimulate and support event activity and safeguard the future viability and success of Canada’s live music sector.
• The 2020 Fall Economic Statement (FES) and Budget 2021 included several measures designed to further support the music industry:
o FES: $15 million in new funding, in 2021-22, to financially support the Canadian live music sector to bridge the period during which the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates major restrictions on gatherings. This initiative is delivered by the CMF two third-party administrators (FACTOR for the Anglophone market and Musicaction for the Francophone market). It is designed to stimulate the employment of Canadian artists, technicians and other supporting workers and service providers by providing substantial project support for live music events featuring Canadian artists that can be presented before an in-person audience and/or through synchronous digital dissemination, while COVID-19 safety measures are in place. As well, the funding provided in Budget 2019 is extended for one-year to help stabilize the overall environment for eligible recipient organizations.
o Budget 2021: $70 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to support musicians and music venues through the Canada Music Fund. This includes up to $50 million in 2021-22 to help the live music sector, including music venues, weather the pandemic. As well, it includes an amount of $20 million, over two years, in 2022-23 and 2023-224, to help to stabilize the overall environment being faced by eligible recipients of the Canada Music Fund.
o Budget 2021 also included $7 million to the CMF, in 2022-23, via a Recovery Fund for Heritage, Arts, Culture and Sport sectors to provide support to music festivals, not funded through other PCH programs, to help deliver their first in-persons events since 2019.
• Overall, these resources are intended to secure the viability of the Canadian music industry 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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