Canadian Musician - January/February 2018 | Page 17

The Great Escape
Accepting Artist
Submissions
The Great Escape festival is now accepting artist showcase submissions for
2018. Held in Brighton, U.K., The Great Escape will be held from May 17-19,
2018. The Great Escape new music festival showcases 450 emerging artists
from all over the world in 30-plus walkable venues across the city. The sub-
mission deadline is Feb. 12, 2018 and there is no submission fee.
For more information, go to www.greatescapefestival.com.
… The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and
Composers (CISAC) released its 2017 Global Collections
Report, which highlights some positive trends worldwide in
royalty collections for creators. Global collections are up six
per cent to just under $10.1 billion USD. For music, royalties
are up seven per cent to $8.9 billion. Global collections have
risen for three years in a row and are up 19 per cent from
2012. Digital collections rose 51 per cent, driven largely by
streaming subscription services, but digital is still held back
by poor returns, in particular from video streaming services.
The biggest collections market is the U.S. with $1.95 billion.
Canada places 10 th with $258.5 million in collections, up 1.5
per cent year-over-year. www.cisac.org.
Music Canada Live Skeptical of Ontario’s Ticket
Scalping Law
On Dec. 13, 2017 the Government of Ontario voted to pass the Ticket Sales Act as part of a larger
consumer protection bill. The government says the new laws will protect music and sports fans
by giving them fairer access to event tickets. Among other changes, the law makes it illegal to
use ticket buying technology (often called “bots”) to buy up large groups of tickets, and also caps
the resale price of tickets at 50 per cent over face value.
Industry association Music Canada Live, led by Executive Director Erin Benjamin, says that
banning bot technology is a “step in the right direction,” but raises concerns about a ticket resale
price cap. “Several years ago, the [formerly known as] Ticket Legislation Act was revised to remove
caps because they failed to prevent tickets being sold above face value. Ontario has been here before. Regulating the price of tickets will
once again drive illegal and fraudulent activity deeper into the dark corners of the internet, and will not protect fans. Concert goers will pay
more for tickets and have less certainty that those tickets will be real. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce and will encourage more
out-of-jurisdiction, and increased illegal, resale activity. It is unclear how this time will be different.”
W W W. C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N . CO M
C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N • 17
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