OTTAWA-
Justin Bieber may be one of the best-selling musicians of all time, with a handful of Grammy and Junos awards to his name.
The 28-year-old Ontario-born singer-songwriter has also been named one of the most influential people in the world and one of the 10 most powerful celebrities.
But are his songs Canadian enough for the government’s streaming bill?
Spotify, the world’s largest streaming platform, where Bieber’s hits have been listened to millions of times, has doubts.
He says songs by Bieber and other well-known Canadian artists may not be counted as officially Canadian under Bill C-11, which is now before Parliament.
Among the tracks that likely won’t qualify under the strict Canadian content rules, Spotify says, are Bieber’s “Ghost,” Tate McRae’s “She’s All I Wanna Be” and Moroccan-Canadian singer Faouzia’s “Anybody Else.”
The bill aims to update the Broadcasting Act so that streaming platforms are subject to the same rules as traditional broadcasters, including requiring them to promote Canadian content.
To qualify as Canadian, songs must tick a number of boxes.
Under current rules, a song must meet two of the following criteria to be considered Canadian: be written entirely by a Canadian; performed primarily by a Canadian; be broadcast or performed live in Canada; or have lyrics written entirely by a Canadian.
Bieber’s “Ghost,” for example, only meets one of those requirements, which means traditional broadcasters can no longer count it as Canadian content, and if the bill passes, Spotify and other streaming platforms won’t be able to either. .
Spotify says that without a looser definition of what qualifies as Canadian content, it could end up promoting fewer tracks from the nation’s artists than it currently does on its Canadian playlists.
“It’s important to understand that today’s music world is international in nature, which involves collaborations with artists from all over the world,” says Nathan Wiszniak, director of Canadian label and artist marketing at Spotify.
“Under current definitions of Canadian content, many songs we know and love from Canadian artists would not be classified as Canadian.”
However, the current rules could change. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodríguez has said he plans to ask the broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, to review the definition of Canadian content.
He has said he will issue the political direction to the CRTC after the bill passes Parliament. At that point, the CRTC would be in charge of regulating streaming platforms and making sure they promote qualifying Canadian content.
Spotify curates 90 playlists highlighting Canadian artists in a variety of genres, including country, Quebec rap, and francophone classics.
The platform says it currently uses a variety of data sources to determine if a song is Canadian, including the artist’s self-report.
“This means that we carry a much broader category of tracks that we have identified as Canadian compared to what we think would be classified as Canadian under current definitions,” says Wiszniak.
Playlists are tailored to listeners’ musical tastes, in part based on what they tend to listen to. They’re also designed to introduce people to Canadian musicians and genres they may not have heard before, she says.
“We are concerned that unless Canadian content requirements are updated, this bill could limit exposure to beloved and emerging Canadian artists and in turn cause overexposure to others, driving listeners away.”
Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet Law at the University of Ottawa, says the current criteria for what counts as a Canadian song can “lead to some weird quirks.” He says that the definition of Canadian content needs to be updated in the bill.
“It has led to foreign artists who perform covers of Canadian songs produced outside of Canada being defined as Canadian, because they meet music and lyrical standards,” he says, “whereas Canadian artists perform songs written by non-Canadians and produced outside of Canada they don’t count as Canadian because only the artist requirement is met.”
Bill C-11 has passed the House of Commons and is being considered in the Senate, where it will be discussed when senators return from their summer break.
Senators have been inundated with phone calls, emails and letters from opponents of the bill claiming it could affect amateur videos posted on YouTube.
But supporters of the bill say it updates Canada’s broadcast laws and will help promote Canadian artists.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 8, 2022.