Musicians speak up, stand up for consumers

Canadian musicians have a new voice, consumers have a new ally, and opinions in the music industry have become further fragmented with the formation of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition (CMCC). Members of the new organization, which was founded April 26, feel the major record labels and their industry associations are no longer speaking on their behalf, particularly when it comes to digital music issues such as file-sharing and use of music on multiple platforms. To that effect, the launch of the CMCC – which comes closely on the heels of the withdrawal of a group of independent record labels from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) – continues a shift in the artists’ alliances. "In the early days it looked like the industry and artists were of the same set of beliefs," Steven Page, spokesperson for the CMCC and member of Barenaked Ladies, tells Canadian NEW MEDIA. Page admits that his band originally opposed music downloading, even putting Trojans and fake tracks on sites like Napster. "But what we have seen over the last few years is the value of file sharing and what it has done to promote and sustain our careers. Those things don’t stop you from having a fan base, those are the things that encourage a fan base to continue." Barenaked Ladies are joined in the CMCC by other notable names in Canadian music such as Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Sloan, Bob Wiseman (co-founder of Blue Rodeo) and Sum 41. Page says after about a year of discussing the coalition, the timing was finally right to make it happen. Not lost in that mix is the election of the new Conservative government and the possibility of new copyright legislation being drawn up, something Page feels musicians should have their own say in. The three key principles the coalition says should guide copyright reform and cultural policy are: suing music fans is destructive and hypocritical; digital locks are risky and counterproductive; and cultural policy should support actual Canadian artists. "It seems so strange to me to be suing your best customers," says Page, "because studies are showing us that the most frequent downloaders are also the biggest consumers." Up-and-coming bands like Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, he says, have built their careers on file sharing and word of mouth, not by radio play. The coalition says it finally lets Canadian artists speak for themselves – a statement CRIA president Graham Henderson says is misleading. "There seems to be a presumption in that they speak for all artists," he says. "There are many, many more artists who have differing views. They don’t have a singular vision." Page says that while some artists he approached are still weighing whether to join the coalition, no one has yet refused outright. He adds that the announcement is an open invitation for all music creators – musicians, songwriters and producers – to join. Only time will tell how large the CMCC will be, but the industry success of the names already in the coalition is certainly noteworthy. "I think it’s an important event and one to which the policy makers really need to pay attention," says Ottawa intellectual property lawyer Howard Knopf. "Because up until now, certain…policy makers have depended very much for their positions on regurgitating stuff given to them by record industry lobbyists, and they turn that into Canadian government policy." Says Henderson: "It’s clear that we don’t speak for this group , but I don’t think it’s at all clear that there isn’t a much larger group of artists that we do speak for. I do believe that the values that we’re espousing are shared by the vast majority of musicians, young and old, who work for a living and want to have a choice." CRIA supports an artist’s right to allow their own music to be downloaded for free, but it also backs those who want to be paid for any use of their intellectual property. Henderson says ideally music will be offered online for the right price and with liberal enough rules attached to them for consumers to feel comfortable. On this point the CMCC and CRIA aren’t entirely at odds. Page and Henderson agree that artists shouldn’t be reduced to having concerts and merchandise as their only form of income. "We would like to find a way to monetize any kind of music use," says Page. "I don’t want to believe that our recordings are necessarily free to people who want them." He offers up point-of-entry levies and flat-rate fees as possibilities, but staunchly defends the idea that people who pay for music should be able to play it on as many devices as possible. Henderson, however, thinks the marketplace should decide how digital music should be regulated, and says unduly restrictive copyright protection schemes will be punished and the market will ultimately correct itself. The coalition, on the other hand, fears that if this forced correction of the marketplace comes from boycotting musicians or backlash from lawsuits against consumers, it will cause more harm to the industry than downloading and file sharing do now. This artists and musicians opposed to the current major-label worldview that CMCC was founded in protest against say the organization is more than a manoeuvre to curry favour with fans. Rather, it’s a realization that digital media increases the importance of consumers and decreases the importance of the labels, as the Internet all but negates the cost of distribution and allows anybody to find virtually any artist they want to. Page adds that if today’s peer-to-peer file sharing systems were around in 1990, Barenaked Ladies may never have had to sign with a major record label. Of course, it took artists years to realize the value of these systems once they were widespread. The question is: will the record labels follow suit? "I would like to see that because I think that is going to be a big part of what will help make their business model sustainable," says Page. "I think at the end of the day music will exist whether or not the record business exists." Adds Knopf: "The smart ones will figure out the times are changing and will try to keep up with the times. The record industry wants to hold onto a model that’s now just about a hundred years old… and they want to change the law to in effect perpetuate this model, but no other industry does that. The bus companies don’t try to make it illegal to fly in airplanes." Page doesn’t discard the value of record labels entirely, saying they still have a big role to play in areas like traditional retail situations, promotions, marketing, and publicity. "We’re not trying to say they’re intrinsically bad," he says. "What I’m trying to say is that their goals are different from our goals. I can’t say that they are going to Ottawa representing our goals, because they are not." And they face dissenting opinion in CRIA. "I welcome their input into the debate," says Henderson. "This group sees things differently, but they’re simply one group. One voice out of many."

Musicians speak up, stand up for consumers

Broadcast | April 28, 2006

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