Canada’s largest outdoor festival hit with lawsuit over music licensing fees
OTTAWA – As Avril Lavigne was about to take the stage at the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) last week, many other Canadian artists were no doubt wondering why the organizers of Canada’s largest outdoor music festival had to go make things so complicated for them.
The FEQ began on July 3 — just as it was being hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), National Post has learned.
The not-for-profit group, which is responsible for granting licences and collecting royalties on licensed music in Canada, claims in the lawsuit filed in Federal Court that since at least July 2022 the festival’s organizers “have failed to obtain a license from SOCAN and have not paid any royalties or submitted any report forms to SOCAN.” The Festival International d’été de Québec Inc. and Bleufeu, another organizer, are named as the defendants.
The festival is still ongoing and will conclude on Sunday. Many Canadian and international artists are there this year, including Rod Stewart and Shania Twain. It attracts over a million visitors each year, and receives public funding, while earning millions in revenue.
SOCAN represents more than 200,000 Canadian songwriters, composers, and music publishers, as well as millions of rights holders through a network of over 100 collective societies in over 200 countries.
One of them is the Montreal-based rock band Half Moon Run. Its members said they were thrilled to be the final act of the FEQ in 2022. In fact, they thought it was going to be “the show of (their) lives.”
While the show was a success, the aftermath may have been less thrilling: The group is one of 11 artists named in the SOCAN lawsuit as those allegedly impacted by the festival’s non-payment.
Other artists named include Walk Off the Earth, pianist Alexandra Streliski, Beyries, Tokyo Police Club, Les Trois Accords and Karkwa.
“The full extent of the Defendants’ wrongful acts and infringements is not known by SOCAN but is within the knowledge of the Defendants. SOCAN will seek relief in respect of all such activities,” reads the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, despite SOCAN’s notice, both organizations have “persisted in organizing, producing and promoting the FEQ Festival, and have, by their actions, sanctioned, approved and countenanced the performances of SOCAN Musical Works” contrary to the Copyright Act.
The FEQ festival organizers did not respond to National Post’s request for comment.
The lawsuit alleges the organizers have relied on their tax status as charities to exempt them from paying royalties to music creators and their publishers when their music is performed at the FEQ.
In an email to the Post, SOCAN’s legal advisor Julia Werneburg wrote that her organization is “deeply concerned” with that justification.
“Although the Festival d’été de Québec is a registered charity, the performances it presents are virtually identical to those of its for-profit competitors, and Canadian law requires the payment of licensing fees for these performances,” she said.
“Failing to pay royalties to music creators and their publishers weakens the foundations of the music industry.”
The FEQ is considered an institution in Quebec. Each year, it presents an impressive program of international artists on the famous Plains of Abraham, a historic space in Quebec City’s Battlefields Park.
On Friday, the federal government announced a total of $1.75 million in financial support to the organizers, including a non-repayable contribution of $1.2 million to “engage in promotional activities internationally, to renew its brand image and to develop new products to enhance festivalgoers’ experience” for this year and next year’s editions.
“Our government is proud to support this artistic effervescence and to contribute to the success of an event that really brings people together,” said Heritage minister Steven Guilbeault in a statement announcing the funding.
Ottawa also granted the FEQ $550,000 through Canadian Heritage’s Canada Arts Presentation Fund for its program.
Guilbeault’s office declined to comment on the lawsuit as the matter is before the court.
National Post
atrepanier@postmedia.com
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