SOCAN Welcomes Shifting Paradigms Report - SOCAN

SOCAN Welcomes Shifting Paradigms Report

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Toronto, May 16, 2019 – The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage tabled in the House of Commons its Shifting Paradigms report as part of its study on Remuneration Models for Artists and Creative Industries to propose recommendations related to the statutory review of the Copyright Act.

On first reading, SOCAN is satisfied with the Committee’s recommendations, particularly with respect to extending the term of copyright protection (Recommendation 7), better regulating certain exceptions (Recommendation 15) and also creating a Resale Right in Canada (Recommendation 22).

Other recommendations from the music community are also well received by SOCAN, which has supported them. In the study undertaken by the Committee, the ecosystem of Canadian creators has indeed combined to join forces in order to achieve improvements that would benefit all Canadian creators.

“Now that the report is tabled, we hope the responsible Ministers will take note of the recommendations and implement them in the near future,” said SOCAN Chief Executive Officer Eric Baptiste. “These recommendations reflected an effort that transcends partisan affiliations and represents a growing consensus for the need to strengthen the growth of the Canadian creative ecosystem.”

SOCAN, however, regrets the lack of a recommendation to make the private copying regime technologically neutral – an omission even more incomprehensible, since the demand was commonly shared by all players in the music community.

SOCAN would like to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for their work over the last few months.

About SOCAN
SOCAN is a rights management organization that connects more than four-million music creators worldwide and more than a quarter-million businesses and individuals in Canada. Nearly 160,000 songwriters, composers, music publishers and visual artists are its direct members, and more than 100,000 organizations are Licensed To Play music across Canada. With a concerted use of progressive technology and unique data as well as a commitment to lead the global transformation of rights management, with wholly-owned companies Audiam, Dataclef and MediaNet, SOCAN is dedicated to upholding the fundamental truths that music and visual arts have value and creators and publishers deserve fair compensation for their work. For more information: www.socan.com

Media contacts:
Proof Inc.
(for SOCAN): Louis-Charles Roy, 613-670-5814, lcroy@getproof.com
SOCAN: Andrew Berthoff, 416-442-3836, Andrew.Berthoff@socan.com