Copyright, Contracts And Creators

Preface to John Lorinc's Creators and Copyright in Canada

Canadian creators are recognized as being among the most outstanding artists in the world. The audiences, both at home and abroad, for Canadian music, art, books, film and theatre have grown rapidly over the past two decades. Politicians regularly laud their work. Licensing collectives, like SOCAN and Access Copyright, distribute substantial revenues from the licensing of rights. The cultural industries have expanded and matured so that in 2001 some 131,000 artists spent the majority of their time working at their art, accounting for fully 4% of the Canadian GDP. Yet many creators reap little of the economic rewards of this success and most are forced to take other work in order to survive.

This report is an attempt to understand this problem. It began when the Creators' Copyright Coalition engaged John Lorinc, a journalist with extensive experience covering the arts, to do a sector-by-sector analysis of the way copyright legislation affects Canadian creators, but it quickly moved beyond this. One of the fundamental points that Lorinc makes is that, while copyright legislation is very important, creators are working within an economic system that gives little reward to their efforts. In this country there is more financial reward to distribute, or administer art, than there is to create it.

There are significant differences from sector-to-sector, but the overwhelming reason creators are doing poorly is that they are in a hopelessly weak bargaining position. Copyright legislation gives ownership to creators, but they must sign contracts with producers, art galleries or publishers in order to bring their work to the public. In the tough economics of the culture business, creators are in a weak position vis-à-vis the producers. Typically individual creators are presented with contracts on a take-it-or-leave-it basis that results in the lion's share of the rewards going to the corporations that publish or distribute the work. (Copyright was originally seen as a monopoly granted by the state to creators to encourage them to create again, but others have captured most of the financial rewards that flow from this system. In this sense, copyright is a failure in Canada.)

The consequences are disturbing. The works of Canadian creators result in billions of dollars of value, and yet artists live at the bottom of the income charts. Studies show that, while creators have higher levels of education than the average Canadian, their average incomes in 2001 were only $23,500. Creators' incomes rank in the lowest quarter of the average earnings of all occupational groups. Not only are incomes significantly lower than other workers, but creators are frequently forced to live without the social safety net taken for granted by other workers.

If this inequality is to be addressed, there must be fundamental changes in copyright and the way that creative works are delivered to the public.

1. Strong copyright legislation is essential to protect creators' rights. Exemptions to the Copyright Act should not be used as a way to avoid payment to artists.
2. Copyright protection must be extended to the works of all creators. This includes performers and photographers.
3. The public domain must be protected so that the general public and creators have access to the storehouse of human knowledge.
4. Licensing collectives must be supported and developed to ensure the public has access to efficient and affordable clearance mechanisms for works under copyright.
5. Moral rights must continue to be protected and enhanced so that the works of creators are not altered without permission and proper attribution is given.
6. A system of collective bargaining must be developed in all of the creator industries in order to protect and enhance the rights of creators so they can work collectively to improve their individual incomes.
7. Governments must respond to the demands of the public for more access to the works of Canadian creators by developing programs featuring those works, which can be delivered through the media and the educational system.

If the arts are to flourish in Canada there must be a system that is fair and equitable to all: the public, the producers and the creators. (It is time to return copyright to its rightful role of granting creators a financial incentive to create.) I urge you to read the Lorinc report. It is an important beginning to this fundamental debate.

June 2005
Bill Freeman, Chair,
Creators' Copyright Coalition