Question Period Note: Funding Support for the Music Industry

The Canada Music Fund (CMF) helps connect Canadian music artists with audiences everywhere and is the primary way in which the Government supports the Canadian music sector.

• Canadian music artists and the Canadian music industry play a critical role in the cultural and economic vitality of our country.

• With foreign artists dominating streaming platforms and the continuing impact of the pandemic on Canada’s live music sector, many of our artists are struggling to build audiences at home and abroad and sustain their careers.

• That is why we have invested $139 million in additional support through the Canada Music Fund during the pandemic and have committed to increasing the Fund’s annual contributions to ensure better and more stable funding for the music sector.

• The Canada Music Fund (CMF) aims to foster an environment where a diversity of Canadian music artists connects with audiences everywhere, providing the essential up-front support needed to develop Canadian artists and sharing the financial 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. All CMF contributions are delivered through the program’s initial recipients FACTOR (Anglophone market) and Musicaction (Francophone market).
• In support of the CMF’s program modernization, which places greater emphasis on artist promotion through greater funding flexibility for a wider variety of entrepreneurs, Budget 2019 announced $10 million in additional annual funding for 2019-20 and 2020-21. This funding was extended in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement and Budget 2021 to stabilize the overall environment faced by current recipients of the CMF, and is now set to sunset at the end of 2023-24.
• The pandemic presented significant setbacks for the Canadian music industry, intensifying existing pressures and further highlighting the critical importance of live performances in building the careers of Canadian artists. Competition for listeners is increasingly fierce in the digital world where streaming services increasingly showcase superstar global artists. As such, Canadian artists, particularly those from equity-deserving groups, continue to face challenges in developing their audiences domestically and abroad.
• The CMF has delivered several iterations of emergency support for the Canadian music industry and the Canadian-owned live music sector during the pandemic:
o 2020-21: The CMF delivered $32.9 million of Canadian Heritage’s $500 million COVID-19 Emergency Fund. Phase 1 provided $7.9 million to existing CMF recipients while Phase 2 provided $25 million for Canadian music entrepreneurs and organizations in the live music sector that do not normally receive funding from the CMF.
o 2021-22: Budget 2021 included $50 million for the Canadian-owned live music sector to weather the pandemic. Ultimate recipients included music venues, concert promoters, concert producers, booking agents, music festivals, artist managers, artist entrepreneurs and service companies. The CMF also delivered $15 million through the “Support for Workers in the Live Arts and Music Sectors Fund,” announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, to stimulate the employment of Canadian artists, technicians and other supporting workers and service providers.
o 2022-23: To compensate Canadian arts, culture, and heritage organizations for revenue losses due to public health restrictions and capacity limits, Budget 2022 proposed to provide an additional $50 million in 2022-23 to Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, and Telefilm Canada. Of this, $14 million has been delivered through the CMF under an initiative called “2022-23 Continuation of Emergency Support to Canadian-Owned Music Venues, Concert Promoters and Producers.” In summer 2022, FACTOR and Musicaction launched the program to deliver these resources for the Anglophone and Francophone markets, respectively. Further, in 2022-23, the CMF delivered $7 million through Budget 2021’s “Recovery and Reopening Fund” for music festivals not funded through other departmental programs to help deliver their first in-persons events since 2019.
• The 2021 Fall Economic Statement included two measures that will, among others, support members of the live music sector in response to the on-going pandemic: $60 million in 2022-23 to support workers in the live performance sector; and $300 million to support businesses affected by the pandemic, including those in tourism and hospitality who plan and host festivals or live performances. These funds are not being administered by the CMF
• Music industry stakeholders have advocated that that the $10 million in additional annual funding for the CMF announced in Budget 2019 be increased and made permanent and that the federal government provide the Canadian-owned live music sector with long-term support to safeguard its future viability and success.
• In December 2021, the Minister of Heritage’s Mandate letter included a commitment to increase “annual contributions to the Canada Music Fund to ensure better and more stable funding for the music sector.” This followed the Liberal Party’s electoral platform commitment to increase the CMF’s annual permanent budget to $50 million.

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