In The Next Big Bang: A New Direction for Music in Canada, Music Canada identifies programs and policies designed to stimulate the development of Canada’s commercial music sector – and to drive growth and job creation in the economy at large.
These five key areas are explored resulting in 17 recommendations.
"The commercial music sector has the potential to support government efforts to improve economic performance and job growth at all levels. We want to get the message across that music can help in a multiplicity of ways," says Graham Henderson, President of Music Canada. "Music’s potential can be fully realized, and Canada can secure its place on the global cultural map, by updating current policies and programs from the analog era in which they were created."
We need to modernize and digitize our industrial strategy for music.
No industry has experienced the consequences of the digital revolution more acutely than the music industry. Mechanisms for distribution, promotion, marketing, sale and the receipt of remuneration have all been disrupted. Yet, many of the policies and models for support were designed for the analog era.
The report contains 17 recommendations, including:
a) Given the strong evidence that music education prepares workers who are more creative, better problem-solvers, and possess soft skills that are critical in the digital economy, as well as the correlation between music scenes and tech clusters, governments should invest more in music education and should consider music scenes as a tool for economic development;
b) Music funding programs should reward innovation;
c) Efforts should be made to support the discovery of Canadian music online through partnerships with digital music services;
d) Cities and regions should develop a music tourism strategy in partnership with their local music community;
e) Canada should develop a national music export office to better assist music companies and artist entrepreneurs to expand their export markets;
f) A presence for the music industry should be established in Los Angeles to stimulate exports to the US market and attract more music recording activity to Canadian recording studios; and
g) Tax credits for music companies should be modernized and expanded, (replicating the best practices established in film and TV at the federal and provincial levels) resulting in jobs, economic activity and contributions to the tax base.
Contributors include: Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), digital expert Darlene Tonelli, Austin’s Titan Music Group and Nordicity.
To read the report, click here.