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The government of the French-Canadian province of Quebec is planning to set quotas for the availability of French-language music on streaming platforms, but new polling shows there may be little appetite for the plan among listeners.<\/p>\n
The poll, commissioned by the Digital Media Association<\/strong> (DiMA<\/strong>), which represents Spotify<\/a><\/strong>, Apple Music<\/a><\/strong> and Amazon Music<\/a><\/strong>, along with some video streaming services, found 66%<\/strong> of Quebecers don\u2019t want the government to influence what music is available on streaming services.<\/p>\n Among younger adults aged 18 to 34, opposition rises to three-quarters, according to a survey carried out by Leger<\/strong>, Quebec\u2019s largest opinion pollster.<\/p>\n Quebec is the only province in Canada where French is the dominant language, and successive provincial governments have taken various steps to protect Quebec\u2019s French culture and heritage. Among the most recent is Bill 109, which would require the government to set quotas on the \u201cquantity or proportion<\/a>\u201d of French-language cultural content featured on streaming platforms.<\/p>\n The bill would also \u201censhrine the right to discoverability of and access to original French language cultural content\u201d in the province\u2019s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.<\/p>\n Streaming services represented by DiMA have been pushing back against the legislation. In a brief<\/a> submitted to a public hearing on the proposed law in October, DiMA suggested the bill could backfire: Altering the music options listeners have could make them less engaged with streaming platforms, resulting in lost revenue for Quebecois artists and less investment in Quebec\u2019s music scene.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe the most effective path forward is one focused on listener choice, not constraint. Quebec artists and Francophone music are thriving on streaming services today because audiences are empowered to find and listen to music organically,\u201d said Graham Davies<\/strong>, DiMA\u2019s President and CEO.<\/p>\n \u201cBy working together \u2013 combining the government\u2019s cultural vision with the streaming services\u2019 reach, expertise and innovation \u2013 we believe Francophone and music of Quebec can continue to thrive both at home and on the global stage.\u201d<\/p>\n DiMA also argues that it would be technically difficult to implement a system that prioritizes Quebecois recordings over others.<\/p>\n \u201cInternational music metadata standards do not require a song to be identified by nationality or language, meaning streaming services do not have a way to identify at scale which songs could or should be classified as Canadian, Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois or French-language,\u201d DiMA said in a statement.<\/p>\n Notably, a recent study<\/a> carried out for The Australia Institute<\/strong> asserted that music recommendation algorithms do at least recognize the language that lyrics are sung in, and favor songs that match a user\u2019s own language.<\/p>\n The debate over Quebec\u2019s bill comes as the major streaming services are already embroiled in a legal dispute with Canada\u2019s federal government over a new Canada-wide law that requires streamers to hand over 5%<\/strong> of their Canadian revenue to agencies and organizations that support Canadian and Indigenous content.<\/p>\n That law, the Online Streaming Act<\/strong> of 2023, is an update of a long-standing law in Canada that requires public broadcasters to pay into funds supporting Canadian content. It\u2019s estimated that DSPs would have to hand over CAD $200 million<\/strong> (USD $142 million<\/strong>) annually under the new law.<\/p>\n In 2024, the law was challenged in federal court by members of DiMA as well as members of Music Picture Association\u2013Canada<\/strong>, whose membership includes Disney<\/strong>, Paramount<\/strong> (now Paramount Skydance<\/strong>), Sony<\/a><\/strong>, NBCUniversal<\/strong>, and Warner Bros.<\/a> Discovery<\/strong>.<\/p>\n