The government of the French-Canadian province of Quebec is planning to set quotas for the availability of French-language music on streaming platforms, but new polling shows there may be little appetite for the plan among listeners.
The poll, commissioned by the Digital Media Association (DiMA), which represents Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, along with some video streaming services, found 66% of Quebecers don’t want the government to influence what music is available on streaming services.
Among younger adults aged 18 to 34, opposition rises to three-quarters, according to a survey carried out by Leger, Quebec’s largest opinion pollster.
Quebec is the only province in Canada where French is the dominant language, and successive provincial governments have taken various steps to protect Quebec’s French culture and heritage. Among the most recent is Bill 109, which would require the government to set quotas on the “quantity or proportion” of French-language cultural content featured on streaming platforms.
The bill would also “enshrine the right to discoverability of and access to original French language cultural content” in the province’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
Streaming services represented by DiMA have been pushing back against the legislation. In a brief submitted to a public hearing on the proposed law in October, DiMA suggested the bill could backfire: Altering the music options listeners have could make them less engaged with streaming platforms, resulting in lost revenue for Quebecois artists and less investment in Quebec’s music scene.
“We believe the most effective path forward is one focused on listener choice, not constraint. Quebec artists and Francophone music are thriving on streaming services today because audiences are empowered to find and listen to music organically,” said Graham Davies, DiMA’s President and CEO.
“By working together – combining the government’s cultural vision with the streaming services’ reach, expertise and innovation – we believe Francophone and music of Quebec can continue to thrive both at home and on the global stage.”
DiMA also argues that it would be technically difficult to implement a system that prioritizes Quebecois recordings over others.
“International music metadata standards do not require a song to be identified by nationality or language, meaning streaming services do not have a way to identify at scale which songs could or should be classified as Canadian, Québécois or French-language,” DiMA said in a statement.
Notably, a recent study carried out for The Australia Institute asserted that music recommendation algorithms do at least recognize the language that lyrics are sung in, and favor songs that match a user’s own language.
The debate over Quebec’s bill comes as the major streaming services are already embroiled in a legal dispute with Canada’s federal government over a new Canada-wide law that requires streamers to hand over 5% of their Canadian revenue to agencies and organizations that support Canadian and Indigenous content.
That law, the Online Streaming Act of 2023, is an update of a long-standing law in Canada that requires public broadcasters to pay into funds supporting Canadian content. It’s estimated that DSPs would have to hand over CAD $200 million (USD $142 million) annually under the new law.
In 2024, the law was challenged in federal court by members of DiMA as well as members of Music Picture Association–Canada, whose membership includes Disney, Paramount (now Paramount Skydance), Sony, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
In December 2024, the federal court paused enforcement of what the media companies call a “streaming tax,” pending resolution of the legal action. The court has yet to issue a ruling in the matter.
“Streaming has become one of the strongest engines for Québec’s music ecosystem, helping turn piracy into prosperity, returning 70% of revenues to rightsholders and artists, and connecting Québec’s artists to millions of listeners at home and globally.”
Graham Davies, DiMA
The Leger poll for DiMA also found that a majority of Quebec respondents (61%) say French-language music is already easy to find on streaming services. It also found that 76% of listeners would oppose the French-language legislation if it meant higher subscription prices, and 65% would oppose it if it resulted in streaming services leaving the Quebec market.
Quebecers “place real importance on having the freedom to navigate new artists and genres when they stream music,” said Lisa Covens, Vice-President at Leger. “The notion of government influencing what’s available doesn’t match what many respondents say they want.”
Davies added that streaming “has become one of the strongest engines for Québec’s music ecosystem, helping turn piracy into prosperity, returning 70% of revenues to rightsholders and artists, and connecting Québec’s artists to millions of listeners at home and globally. This success is possible because consumers have choice, and because streaming services can invest meaningfully in supporting and showcasing Francophone and Québec talent on the world stage.”Music Business Worldwide