The Association des professionnels de l’édition musicale (APEM) invited its members and other stakeholders in Québec’s music ecosystem – including an important SOCAN delegation – to the eighth edition of the Music & Technology Summit on March 21, 2024, at the Phi Center in Montréal. The event was hosted by Catherine Mathys, and – as in previous years – featured a series of conferences designed to help music publishers and other music professionals make the most of technology. The summit also aimed to inform the participants about the most important trends and technological developments that affect the music industry.
APEM general manager Jérôme Payette kicked things off with a presentation of the latest available statistics on where streams of music from Québec originate, setting the stage for the first panel on the promotion of Québecois music – featuring Shanti Loiselle (Meilleures pratiques), Christian Roy (A10s) and Julie Knibbe (Music Tomorrow). Each speaker presented their APEM-commissioned research project, aimed at measuring the promotion and recommendation of local music on online music services.
We caught up with Jérôme Payette to learn more about these studies and how their conclusions will be used in the CRTC’s upcoming consultations on online music services:
Select the image to play the SOCAN YouTube interview video with Jérôme Payette
Jacynthe Plamondon-Émond then presented a selection of tech tools of interest to music publishers, followed by a discussion on the hot topic of artificial intelligence versus copyright law – which was tackled head-on by Andrea Kokonis, SOCAN Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, and Stéphane Caron, Partner at Gowling WLG.
They discussed the various applications of A.I., summarized concerns about copyright – currently not protected in A.I.-generated content – and took stock of the current status of international initiatives to legislate on this issue. Andrea Kokonis reiterated that SOCAN, APEM, SPACQ and ADISQ have agreed on the principles that should frame A.I. legislation – principles that the Government of Canada will need to consider as it explores the regulatory framework and copyright policy that will apply to A.I. systems, while respecting creators and human expression. We met with Kokonis and Caron after their presentation, to find out more about this crucial issue, about which SOCAN intends to play a central and continuing role:
Select the image to play the SOCAN YouTube interview video with Andrea Kokonis and Stéphane Caron