All music used by Quebec government services must feature Quebec artists

[robotresearcher]

> the provincial Culture Ministry

It's the government of Quebec, not Canada.

The article didn't go out of its way to make that clear. But it did say so.

[voldacar]

As a non-Canadian, the Quebecois seem to have a weird cultural narcissism. It's like there are all these little petty bureaucratic foistings of Quebec on the rest of Canada. Music that nobody wants to listen to, a language that nobody wants to learn, etc. Bizarre

[1000100_1000101]

As a British-born Canadian, my view is they have a knack of shooting themselves in the foot without realizing it.

When we moved to Canada we were allowed to be schooled in English. Within a year or two they passed a new law that said you could only be educated in English if your parents were educated in English in either Quebec or Canada (don't remember which). Coming from England, my parent's education didn't qualify. There was no grandfathering, letting us continue in English because we'd already started in English. My parents didn't know French, and wouldn't be able to assist in learning it, or helping with homework. In response, we left Quebec and moved to the Toronto area.

If they hadn't passed their law, I would have stayed, made French friends, shopped at French stores, and generally been immersed in the culture they want to protect, and learned French. My brothers would have too. Instead, we all vaguely know grade-9 core French, but not enough to actually communicate with anyone. Pretty much the exact opposite of what they want.

Years later, they enacted French language laws, harassing stores over English signs, talking English to English customers, etc, all making it harder to be a tourist location.

All their efforts seem to be more effective at driving away the non-French as opposed to spreading adoption and appreciation of French. Maybe that's their real plan. Their calls for separation are another sign that driving away the non-French may be the real goal... they want to be left alone... Which just seems incredibly short-sighted. If you're too isolated from the rest of the world, the rest of the world will move on without you.

[hipparchus]

This sounds like you didn't even try to look at this from their perspective. What reads as narcissism to you reads to them as a necessity for cultural survival: is this a good way of dealing with the perceived anglophone takeover? are their fears unfounded and will Quebec still be the thriving French-speaking province it has been, a thousand years from now? I know neither answer to these questions, but I can on paper understand their sentiment: they are the only French speakers on their continent (barring the pockets in louisiana or French Guiana), and neighbours to the biggest cultural powerhouse of the last 50 years. Learning English to get better job opportunities seem like a no brainer for the majority of their youth, and leaving to the US is a dream for many of them. Their film producers, musicians, writers, and other artists are deeply talented in their own right, yet struggle to be known outside of Québec or francophone Europe. Who wants to be stuck in that market ? Some bear it, but others cater to the anglophones to benefit from the americans who export their culture to the entire rest of the world. It's nearly impossible to make it in the western world in any other way. If the Chinese ever achieve cultural rayonance as well as the Americans have achieved, or if spanish suddenly gains a much higher rate of usage in the US, I am confident thousands of anglophone will change their tune and opt a position much closer to the québécois.

[3pt14159]

Oh come on.

I speak more Russian than I do French, but even I can recognize the wonderful culture and je ne sais quoi that comes with Quebec and French Canada's influence on Canadian culture. I'm happy that they are here and that the government has measures to support their voices that would otherwise get lost.

[mthoms]

They're surrounded by 300 million+ English speakers and desperately trying to keep their language and culture alive.

I'm not saying I agree with this particular initiative, but this is about survival of their very culture, not narcism. What an awfully uncharitable thing to say.

It's funny, if the Inuit government had a similar initiative in Nunavut to support their culture, literally no-one would have a problem with it.

Make of that what you will.

[BlueNorth]

As a Quebecer, I will allow myself to highlight the intention behind this surprising proposal. Quebec's French-speaking artistic community is very rich and very lively. The musical tastes of Quebecers are also very diverse, in both English and French. Only, from a commercial point of view, English-speaking music enjoys a very large exposure and it is very easy to forget that other music also exists. Canada, from a constitutional point of view, officially recognizes 2 languages: English and French. Laws impose on the broadcaster a certain percentage of content in these 2 languages. However, French does not benefit from the strength of attraction of English on the North American continent. The Quebec government has therefore decided to do its part to increase the visibility of French-language music in Quebec, more specifically, Quebec French-language music. It is an action of resilience, one among many others that we feel obliged to do to avoid disappearing like all the other French-speaking populations of America.

[hluska]

You’re not Canadian and this is a really tricky part of understanding how the Canadian system works. But this is a Province of Québec policy and only impacts Québec government ministries.

The rest of Canada has Canadian content rules codified in our Broadcasting Act. The idea is that it should create a market for art our various Ministries of Culture pay for via grants. But in practice, Canadian terrestrial radio plays one hell of a lot of Nickelback and Trooper…

[salamandersauce]

TBF, this is a provincial thing and not federal so it only applies to Government of Quebec things and not the RoC.

[klyrs]

As an American immigrant to Canada, I've gotta say, you sound pretty ignorant about Canadian culture and history. You might wanna read up before sharing such strong opinions

[supernova87a]

This seems only slightly less moronic than the tariffs that the Australian government put on foreign books, to encourage domestic writing.

[Daishiman]

It is very different. A specific subsidy/promotion is very different from a broad punitive tax.

I've a lot of friends who are professional DJs and musicologists/music historians. The reality is that most people will listen whatever is a hit on the radio, TV, or Spotify, which means that any underground cultural scene that wants to make it big has to appeal to the big US/UK/EU markets.

If you want a thriving local music scene that doesn't just copy whatever gets played in London/Berlin/LA you have to do these sorts of things.

[slaymaker1907]

I think this is somewhat misguided. The main problem I see with the modern music scene in general is that live music is not doing very well, particularly after covid. Coincidentally, no matter where you are, having more live music is almost invariably going to be local music and is much less top heavy compared to the recording industry.

I suspect they are not pushing more live music out of concern over cost which is unfortunate.

[hluska]

The fourth last paragraph reads:

(Culture Minister Nathalie) “Roy also announced an investment of $1.1 million as part of an initiative to promote local music produced during the pandemic.”

[jplr8922]

I have close friends in this business, and you are right ; this policy will not help live music. It will boost older artists with established names and big studios who helped them many years ago. In my humble opinion, this government leads with polls, targeting specific non-urban region and older generations.

[swader999]

As long as it's not Celine Dionne I'm fine with this. Edit: I read the article and apparently she counts. It's a dark day for my Quebec brothers.

[moomin]

The department for transportation is going to be playing “No Cars Go” on a loop.

[temp8964]

Some people are more equal than others.

[Daishiman]

Yes, local governments want to preserve local culture instead of everything becoming a global suburbia of American pop culture. The horror.

[lorlou]

This reads like something straight from The Onion.

What's even worse is that I guess those government services must pay royalties, so this means Canadians will be subsidising music they clearly don't like (otherwise it would be popular and this kind of law wouldn't be necessary)

[simion314]

>otherwise it would be popular and this kind of law wouldn't be necessary

I think you are missing the full picture. What I mean there is no fair free market of art, for example can my country with 20 million population create cartoons to compete with Disney? Of course not, Disney creates the generic american culture stuff, and then they can dump it on small countries and make a bit of extra profit from ads and toys.

Anyway I am not debating what laws are fair or not, just mentioning there is no fair competition and the best music, TV show or movie wins. I would personally tax foreign stuff a bit and use the money to support local production.

[cryptoz]

It's a fallacy to suggest that Canadians 'clearly don't like' something because it is not popular. A lack of exposure is one possible reason why a population may like something but it isn't (yet) popular.

[NikolaNovak]

I live in Ontario, the neighboring predominantly-English province.

My gut instinct is with you. It's weird and nationalistic and what even..

But... I was born in a tiny country with tiny language. The notion of playing, I don't know, Russian or Chinese or Polish music in the government elevator or on government phone, makes me immediately have more sympathy and understanding. Like, it wouldn't even be a consideration - of course government waiting music will be in your own language.

I think that kind of disregard for their first language is exactly what is making Quebecois protective of their language and culture. Just because they are on North American continent, doesn't make their language

[8note]

It sounds like the rest of the CRTC, really.

I don't think there's really much about liking music that decides that it will be played.

The music that is played is chosen by wealthy people, and forced on the listeners. People like things they are exposed to often

[mthoms]

> this means Canadians will be subsidising music they clearly don't like (otherwise it would be popular and this kind of law wouldn't be necessary)

Are you suggesting that the popularity of music is based solely on its merits and not multi-million dollar marketing budgets of the (mostly English speaking) pop-culture industrial complex? Now that is something for The Onion.

Side note: This rule is provincial, and applies only to Quebec. Many Quebecers love their local artists. Indeed this initiative wouldn't be possible without some measure of support.

[jplr8922]

Well what is to be expected of an old school nationalist government, with a mindset from another generation? Its an easy win which makes them look good. I do not have any problem with the extra money going back to Quebec artists through royalties. However I would rather have an overhaul of the royalties system, which is based on a pre-digital world. Oh well.

[gnopgnip]

They are doing more than just subsidizing Canadian artists, this is part of a $1.1m program to promote local artists.

[jonny_eh]

This will do nothing for artists in Quebec, except increase spending on IT by the govt.

[Daishiman]

It will pay a small wage to a few artists which makes all the difference for small local scenes.

Cultural promotion by local governments _work_. Artists can do amazing things when they don't have to ask their parents for money or depend on a shitty day job.

[zeku]

Kaytranada on every government service!

[cratermoon]

Tabernak!

[civilian]

Who's ready to rage to some Grimes while waiting for their healthcare??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimes_(musician)#Early_life

[TedDoesntTalk]

It is not clear if this is for all of Canada or just Quebec.

[542458]

Just for Quebec as far as I know. The ministry in question doesn’t have authority further than that.

[atdt]

Only Quebec.