Re:Sound continues to advocate for urgently needed copyright solutions to support Canadian Music 

Following the federal government’s 2024 Budget release, Lou Ragagnin, President and CEO of Re:Sound issued the following statement: 

“Re:Sound commends the Government of Canada for their support of Canadian music in Budget 2024, including contributions to the Canada Music Fund, supplementary supports that will benefit the music community and targeted AI support for workers in creative industries. However, Canadian Music creators and supporters across the country pressed the Canadian government to do more by including urgently needed copyright solutions passed over in Budget 2024. Re:Sound’s focus has been to push for the outdated and antiquated copyright legislation to be modernized to international standards and reflect the current digital realities everyday artists are facing. Our asks required zero funding from the federal government and could have greatly assisted our industry – including thousands of Canadian performing artists, background musicians, record labels, and independent labels – all who would have benefitted greatly by these changes. We will continue to advocate for the updating of the Copyright Act to level the playing field for working music creators in Canada and hope to work collaboratively with government to effect this change in the near term.” 

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To schedule an interview with Lou Ragagnin, contact:   

Taylor Jantzi 
Global Public Affairs
416-642-2904
tjantzi@globalpublic.com     

Re:Sound’s Market-Based Solutions:  

• Amend the definition of “sound recording” in the Copyright Act to address its unfair exclusion of performers and record labels/makers from performance royalties from television, film, video streaming platforms and other audio-visual content. 
• Eliminate the “temporary” $1.25 Million exemption for commercial radio stations instituted in 1997 – a subsidy for commercial radio at the direct expense of music rights holders. 
• Update the private copying regime to make it technologically neutral. 

About Re:Sound 

Re:Sound is the Canadian not-for-profit music licensing company dedicated to obtaining fair compensation for Performers and Record Labels for their performance rights. We advocate for music creators, educate music users, license businesses, and distribute royalties to creators — all to help build a thriving and sustainable music industry in Canada. We do this in collaboration with our member organizations: ACTRA RACS, Artisti, Connect, Musicians’ Rights Organization Canada (MROC), SOPROQ, Sony Music Entertainment Canada, Universal Music Canada and Warner Music Canada.