On September 11, S.A.C. President Arun Chaturvedi and President Emeritus Eddie Schwartz delivered a presentation to a distinguished group of directors, director generals, and policy leads from several departments of the Canadian government. These included the Department of Culture and Identity, Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and the newly formed Department of Artificial Intelligence.
Their hour-long presentation and Q&A session focused on the cultural and economic impacts of Generative AI on music creators, as well as the broader societal and cultural ramifications. They emphasized the urgent need to protect copyright as a fundamental pillar of innovation and as the key mechanism by which human authors—including Indigenous, Francophone, and Anglophone creators across Canada and internationally—are compensated for their valuable contributions.
They firmly reiterated that the intellectual property of Canadian creators must not be treated as free raw material for multinational tech giants.
Citing a recent CISAC study indicating that music creators’ revenues could decline by 24% by 2028, and noting that German performance rights organization GEMA is already experiencing a 12% decline in A/V revenues, they highlighted the dizzying pace at which the landscape is changing. With platforms like Deezer reporting that 30% of daily uploads are now GenAI-generated, they called for urgent action, including an independent, expert-led WIPO study on the impacts of Generative AI on music creators.
The S.A.C. remains dedicated to challenging the persistent myth—frequently promoted by big tech—that copyright hinders innovation. In reality, studies by WIPO consistently demonstrate that copyright protection drives innovation by providing economic incentives for creativity. Safeguarding the rights of creators is essential to the innovation that has positioned Canada as the world’s third-largest exporter of music, surpassed only by the U.S. and the U.K.
The S.A.C. thanks the Government of Canada for its ongoing consultations and engagement on this crucial issue.