Canada needed a reimagined broadcasting system. The CRTC’s contribution decision offers more of the same while risking the important role played by licensed streaming in building the careers of artists.

Earlier this summer, Canada’s broadcast regulator, the CRTC, announced that music streaming services will need to pay an unprecedented 5% of their Canadian revenues to support the legacy broadcasting system. Canadian and Indigenous artists have catapulted themselves to global stardom through the universality of their music and the reach of licensed streaming – and the CRTC had the chance to build on that success by putting artists, not domestic industrial policy, at the heart of its framework. As we work towards the next phase of CRTC regulations, Music Canada will continue to advocate for the best regulatory system that reflects how music is made and listened to today and creates the greatest opportunities for Canadian and Indigenous artists.