“Cultural sovereignty and digital giants” | “We are garden gnomes”

It would take 32 million streams on Spotify for a Quebec artist to reap the equivalent of the sale of 40,000 albums. Digital platforms are “cars that we put on the road for which we look at the number of deaths before intervening”. And small nations, like Quebec or Belgium, are “garden gnomes” in front of the steamroller of Netflix, Facebook and Google.

Amid these rather gloomy observations made last week during the symposium Cultural Sovereignty and Digital Giants, organized by Alain Saulnier and the Center for Research in Public Law and presented at the University of Montreal, a few rays of sunshine: Canada is particularly experienced in the regulation of cultural content, and media as well as artists find new solutions. A three-part look at this conference which brought together ministers, journalists, administrators and civil servants from the French-speaking world for two days around a vital issue: how to counter this domination of digital giants and their impact on the media and culture?

Farrier vs. Ford

Big boss of the Belgian Radio-Television of the French Community (RTBF), the equivalent of the Société Radio-Canada, Jean-Paul Philippot said, provocatively and from the outset, “tired of this discussion “. Which did not prevent his interventions from being impactful and often delicious.

“In the 2010s, I made numerous presentations on this subject. I always had the feeling of being in the shoes of the farrier that Henry Ford was looking down on. I am tired because for the first time since ancient Egypt, GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft) are entrusted with defining the measurement of their activities and setting the value (…) I don’t imagine going to the butcher and paying for a piece of meat on a scale that has not been checked. »

He quickly noted evidence of the cultural domination of digital platforms: 60% of young people obtain their information exclusively there. “A child today will spend twice as much time on social networks as with their parents. And Facebook, Instagram and YouTube reach between 70 and 80% of young people every week. » These young people will represent 15% of voters in the next European elections. “Everyone will get their information 100% from social networks. »

The fight, he noted, is far from being fought on an equal footing: “Netflix spent 1.7 billion euros (2.5 billion CAN) in 2021 on the development of digital products. The BBC and France Télévisions? The sum of 200 million. And RTBF spent 15 million. We are garden gnomes. The BBC admitted that it did not have the means to develop algorithms as relevant as those of Netflix. »

However, he wanted to conclude on a more positive note, assuring that “there is no inevitability in this situation”. “The solution will be collaborative, cross-sectoral. It is time to put away a certain amount of nationalism and ego. We remain extremely powerful and impactful by working together. »

The list as a weapon

Known to the public as one of the members of the duo Alfa Rococo, David Bussières denounced the “immense loss of income” that artists have suffered with the advent of streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Supporting the table, the one who describes himself as an “artist entrepreneur” recalled that his colleagues pocket a quarter of a cent (or $0.0025) per listen with Spotify. For the artist who pocketed, for example, $80,000 by selling 40,000 albums, “the equivalent would be reached with 32 million streamings. Some succeed, but for the vast majority of artists, it is unattainable, we have too small a market.”

But hasn’t the cost of producing albums dropped radically with the accessibility of digital tools? No, he analyzes. “It’s a myth that I want to debunk. There has been a democratization of technology, indeed, but it is the artist who ends up doing more work. It costs less, yes, but it’s like renovating my kitchen: $35,000 with a contractor and I won’t lift a finger, or $7,000 to $10,000, but I’ll spend three months of my life there. »

Today, the artist is constantly between creation and promotion, which he must most often do himself on social networks. “The backpack that the artist must carry has become heavier over time. »

For the first time in public, he said in an aside after his speech, he presented a project that would give more visibility to Quebec artists: a playlist entirely designed by paid connoisseurs. This “MusiqueQc” list would sort among the approximately 600 Quebec albums launched each year.

The design of this MusiqueQc list would require an investment of at most 1 million, he estimates. “We give ourselves a chance to keep our music alive, to have a centralized center. In four or five years, we could set a goal of going from 5 to 10%, and to 20% within ten years. »

Paid diversity

Seated alongside David Bussières during the presentation, Richard Jean-Baptiste, vice-president of the production company Attraction, was enthusiastic about this project. “The business model for discoverability is, if not broken, at least in need of complete overhaul. (MusiqueQc) is a good example of an innovative model. I am convinced that many advertisers would like to advertise on a platform like that. »

His intervention stood out from the consensus established by most of the speakers. Rather than resisting the steamroller of digital platforms, Attraction was instead the first Canadian company to sign a “first look” agreement with Netflix in November 2023. Attraction thus undertakes to present its film projects as a priority to Netflix. Mr. Jean-Baptiste smiled and defended himself from being “the bad guy in the room”. This type of agreement is an effective way to invest major platforms with Quebec content.

“The future of cultural sovereignty requires financial autonomy (…) Discoverability is the crux of the matter. If we don’t have consumers for our culture, it’s over. But when our young people discover what we do well, they like it. »

Netflix and Prime Video are hungry for local content, he says. “When it doesn’t work locally, it has no chance of working internationally. » He cited as an example an “ambitious” documentary project on the Attraction Expos refused by all the Quebec broadcasters contacted. “With Netflix, we received a positive response within 72 hours. They know a lot more about our local market. »