On Friday, July 4th, S.A.C. Chair Greg Johnston testified before the CRTC as part of their Market Dynamics hearings, representing the ACCORD group. You can read his full remarks below.

Good morning Madame. Chair, Commissioners, and Commission staff. My name is Greg Johnston and I’m here today on behalf of ACCORD. In addition to being a professional songwriter, A/V composer, producer, and session musician, I’m also a passionate music creator advocate, both past President and current Chair of the Songwriters Association of Canada, as well as Co-Chair of Music Creators North America, a US – Canada creator-led organization that advocates globally on behalf of songwriters and composers. I am also an elected member of the board of SOCAN, Canada’s largest rights management organization. I’m here representing the people at the very heart of the music industry – the creators.

Dynamics. It’s a word with deep meaning for me. I remember being four years old, on my mother’s lap at the piano, as she taught me: “Play louder here,” “Play quieter here.” There was always an ebb, a flow, a natural give-and-take. But outside of music, in the digital economy we’re discussing today, the word “dynamic” doesn’t guarantee such bidirectionality. For Canadian songwriters and composers, our reality has become one long, relentless decrescendo. This is what the digital music economy has become for us: a path to silence.

Creators are incredibly resilient. We’ve weathered technological disruptions since the invention of the piano roll, always adapting and embracing new technologies in our creative enterprises. We organize into collective societies to amplify our voices. But make no mistake: we are struggling. We are deeply frustrated. And I worry our voice, our agency, and our autonomy will be diminished to the point of irrelevance.

I’ve had the unique distinction of appearing before this esteemed body before. I’ve also appeared before numerous parliamentary committees and travelled internationally searching for solutions. As I prepared my opening statement for today, I realized my duty and obligation is to speak as plainly and as urgently as possible. My community is suffering.

How does a composer of Canadian music break through a mountain of 100,000 new works uploaded every day? How does a songwriter compete with the 20,000 wholly generated AI works uploaded to Deezer’s platform daily? How can A/V composers survive the constant pressure of diminishing budgets and being asked to do more for less? How do our Francophone brothers and sisters protect and promote their works in an ocean of Anglophone content?

For us, the opportunity for streaming platforms to operate in Canada should be viewed as a privilege, not a right. Asking streamers to provide genuine stewardship, partnership, and support to the very community their economic models rely upon is logical for the sustained operation of streaming and the Canadian music industry. It is also the moral thing to do.

The precarity we’re describing has devastating human consequences. The recent Revelios Soundcheck study found that 79% of music industry professionals say financial stress directly impacts their mental health. Even more alarmingly, the study revealed that 52% of respondents have felt life wasn’t worth living, with 43% having considered taking their own life. To put this into context, these rates are multiple times higher than what is typically observed in the general Canadian population. This underscores that the issues facing creators are not just economic but fundamentally affect their well-being and ability to create with dignity. The Online Streaming Act and the Commission cannot solve all the music industry’s issues, but they can declare – to a dynamic crescendo – that Canadian songwriters, publishers and artists must be promoted, recommended and celebrated to Canadian audiences.

Regulation is not anti-business. Regulation is not an attempt to squash innovation. Regulation is necessary to ensure that those that benefit from access to Canadian audiences are contributing to the system.

Under the Online Streaming Act, this Commission now has the clear mandate and the power to ensure that online undertakings contribute meaningfully to our Canadian music ecosystem, both through financial contributions and by fostering the discoverability of Canadian music. The CRTC has the power, mandate, and expertise to continue protecting that legacy in the face of technological disruption — if it has the will to do so. Our community has a voice; please do not let it be silenced.

Thank you, and I welcome any questions the Commission may have.