On June 26, in front of a sold out audience at the Economic Club of Canada, Music Canada President and CEO Graham Henderson delivered a keynote address to launch our latest report Closing the Value Gap: How to Fix Safe Harbours & Save the Creative Middle Class.

Henderson’s message was clear – the creative middle class is being eliminated by outdated copyright laws. His speech can be viewed on the Economic Club’s Facebook page, and is embedded below.

In his speech, Henderson shared some of the startling new economic evidence in the report which details the scope of harm done, and confirms that the Value Gap in Canada continues to grow.  

In a series of studies, Dr. George Barker, Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics, and Honorary Associate Professor, Australian National University, has documented that the Value Gap in Canada is significantly larger than previously understood, and that it continues to widen.

Dr. Barker distilled his findings to three key measures:

  • $19.3 billion – the cumulative Canadian recorded music Value Gap over 20 years since 1997
  • $1.6 billion – the music industry Value Gap in Canada in 2017 alone
  • $82 million – the average annual increase in the music industry Value Gap in Canada between 1997 and 2017

After his speech, Henderson was joined on stage by the MP for Toronto-Danforth and Chair of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Julie Dabrusin. As Chair of the Committee, Dabrusin recently released a report, Shifting Paradigms, that recommended to the government a series of actions that would help artists and the creative industries.  Henderson called the report, “a guide to fix the Internet.”

Dabrusin credited artists testimony at the Heritage Committee for the report’s recommendations, and cited Miranda Mulholland’s personal account of how Value Gap has affected her career as a catalyst for her careful consideration of these issues. 

“I think we should give a bit of a shout out to Miranda Mulholland,” said Dabrusin. “… She spoke very, very forcefully about the value gap and where it was most forceful was that it brought up her personal journey, the stories of other artists who she knew. So it wasn’t just a dry, matter of fact on a piece of paper anymore. It was hearing the actual impact that was happening in our communities and young people’s lives. And that was the first time that perhaps I’d even twigged a bit more carefully to those issues.”

Dabrusin also encouraged everyone in the music industry to continue to work together when dealing with the Federal government noting that for the Copyright Act Review, almost all music stakeholders came forward with the music priorities to address the Value Gap. 

Following the event, Henderson has spoken about the urgent need to close the Value Gap in a number of media appearances, including BNN Bloomberg, CP24, the Toronto Sun, and the Wire Report.