Internet hasn’t killed the radio star: CRTC

OTTAWA — The CRTC’s head of broadcasting says radio revenue does not appear to be suffering as a result of competition from Internet-based streaming services. Scott Hutton, the commission’s executive director of broadcasting, was speaking Thursday at a House of Commons heritage committee meeting, which is undertaking a review of the Canadian music industry. “Although the results are only preliminary at this point, it appears that the commercial radio industry maintained the course in 2013,” he told the committee. “These stations have reported total revenues of $1.62 billion and pre-tax profits of $331 million.” Hutton noted that the totals have not been finalized and may still change. Hutton added that “competition for new licences is an additional indication of the sector’s vitality,” and that over the past two years, the CRTC issued almost 50 new radio licences, which he said was “a vote of confidence in radio’s future.” Given the stability of the commercial radio sector, the CRTC doesn’t believe “a comprehensive review” is necessary, though the commission does have a targeted policy review currently underway, he noted. He said that while younger listeners, in particular, have been adopting online platforms in growing numbers — with 13 per cent of the population, overall, streaming from personalized Internet music services — radio remains “an attractive medium for many.” Radio is “no longer just about music. Increasingly, it’s about being close to the audience, helping listeners connect to both the content and people that appeal to their individual interests,” he said. Hutton added that audiences listen to radio for local news, traffic and weather in addition to music or talk-radio personalities. “Connecting with individuals and serving the local community is the key to success in today’s niche markets,” he said. Hutton backed away from licensing as a way to regulate music-streaming services, while suggesting the CRTC could use other regulatory tools in the future. In response to a question about extending Canadian content quotas to new technologies, Hutton told the committee that it’s important to be careful not extend “old methods to the new world.” He said with many popular streaming services, the user chooses the music they listen to. “Regulating personal choice is probably not something we should do,” he said. Hutton added that, in the future, the CRTC might rely less on licensing and more on other forms of regulation, such as the tactics it’s used to enforce its anti-spam and the do-not-call list. Those tactics include fines and penalties. He also said industries that the CRTC regulates are in constant evolution. “Do we need to regulate the new thing? Do we need to jump in right away? is a question we often ask ourselves,” he said. “Sometimes some people would want us to do that, but sometimes we make the purposeful decision not to because it’s not the right time.” He said that while the regulator has “a number of those debates in front of us because of the latest technological developments,” it has dealt with similar dilemmas before. For instance, when FM radio was a new technology challenging AM radio, the CRTC did not regulate it closely, he said. “We let it grow, we let it find itself a role. We let it reach Canadians and then, when it was mature enough, that’s when we found that it should itself make a contribution to the system,” he said. “So we have to be careful. … When is the right time to jump in? It may not always be because we’re behind the times . It may be a purposeful decision not to do that.” To promote Canadian music and Canadian content, it’s important to look at what new ways listeners are using to discover music and ensure artists can be discovered by listeners through the new technologies, he said. “The big streaming systems have all sorts of private algorithms that they use,” he said. “What do these algorithms use to find and suggest music to Canadians? This is the question we have to ask. … What do they look at? They probably look at what’s on the Internet, social media, and so we have to ensure our artists are present and very active on social media.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Internet hasn’t killed the radio star: CRTC

News | March 27, 2014

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Internet hasn’t killed the radio star: CRTC

News | March 27, 2014

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