CRTC tax on music streaming sites will fund woke initiatives, legacy broadcasters

Roberto Wakerell-Cruz
  |   July 25, 2024   |   Be the first to comment

Music Canada’s CEO had choice words for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) following its decision to tax streaming providers like Spotify and Apple Music.

His comments come after new regulations were implement that will tax large streaming sites to fund woke diversity initiatives.

Patrick Rogers said he hoped that new rules would focus less on industry policy and more on artists, but instead, the CRTC has moved to make streaming giants pay into a legacy broadcasting fund.

He believes this system only rewards old firms while discouraging investment in innovation.

“We spent three-and-a-half years working towards a modern regulatory system … and a goal was to create a regulatory regime around it. We really bought into it, and we were happy to take part in it,” he said to the National Post. “Throughout, I would say things like ‘the one thing we can’t do is jam the old rules onto this brand-new economy,’ and everyone would go ‘oh no, we’re never do that.’”

Rogers said despite his and others’ efforts, that’s exactly what happened — describing last month’s “bewildering” tax decision as a means to hold onto old policy rather than to modernize, ignoring the role licensed streaming plays in building the careers of Canadian artists.

As part of the Online Streaming Act, formerly Bill C-11, the CRTC announced in June requirements for streaming companies with annual domestic revenues of over $25 million to contribute 5% of their Canadian sales towards a fund supporting Canadian broadcasting.

The money will be distributed to the Canadian Media Fund, the Independent Local News Fund, and various diversity initiatives, including the Black Screen Office Fund, the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for BPOC Creators, and the Indigenous Screen Office Fund.

The CRTC says it expects to collect $200 million in new funding from the new regulations.

It comes after the Trudeau Liberals made it so that all online audio and video streaming services had to register with the CRTC. 

CRTC CEO Vicky Eatrides claimed the changes would give regulators a clean slate to recreate Canada’s broadcasting space.

“We have a blank sheet of paper before us, and it’s inviting us not to reshape a world, but to create a system that touches the lives of every one of the almost 40 million of us who lives in this country,” she said in her speech.

“To re-imagine our broadcasting system, we need to involve a greater diversity of players who can add depth and breadth to foundational conversations.”

The CRTC has defended the tax as a means to level the playing field in Canadian broadcasting.

“This decision is based on an extensive public record, which includes more than 360 detailed submissions and a three-week public hearing during which the CRTC heard from over 120 groups,” it said in a statement to National Post.

“Overall, this decision brings more fairness and more funds into the Canadian broadcasting system.”

 

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