Music Streaming Services Call On National Assembly of Québec For "Cultural Sovereignty with Listener Choice" Over Bill 109
31 October 2025 - Press releaseDIMA – the Digital Media Association – representing Canada's leading music services including Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube, yesterday (October 29th) submitted evidence to the National Assembly of Québec's special consultation on Bill 109.
The bill seeks to affirm the cultural sovereignty of Québec by imposing obligations on music streaming services that will enforce the discoverability of French-language content. DIMA members are concerned that the bill will undermine the vital role they play in helping expand access and grow audiences for Francophone music, and the millions of hours spent listening to Québec music. This engagement is particularly deep among younger audiences.
Graham Davies, President and CEO of DIMA, said: "We believe the most effective path forward is one focused on listener choice, not constraint. Québec artists and Francophone music are thriving on streaming services today because audiences are empowered to find and listen to music organically. By working together – combining the government's cultural vision with the streaming services' reach, expertise and innovation – we believe Francophone and music of Québec can continue to thrive both at home and on the global stage."
Discoverability efforts must not undermine listener experience and risk artist incomes
DIMA's brief cautions that prescriptive discoverability efforts that undermine the experience of paying and engaged listeners could affect streaming royalties and investments. At present, an average of 70% of streaming revenues are paid to artists, songwriters and rightsholders via intermediaries in the form of royalty payments.
Implementation of the bill will face data, legal and technical challenges
DIMA's submission highlights the technical and practical infeasibility of identifying and preferencing Québec content, as proposed in Bill 109. This is due to the lack of that data's existence across the millions of songs that are delivered to streaming services each year. 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 has proposed continued consultation with government and cultural stakeholders, including structured industry roundtables, to ensure Bill 109 is implemented in a way that is effective, technically workable, and beneficial to artists and audiences alike.
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