1. Magda de la Torre
DE COLLECTIVE
603 Glengrove Avenue
April 2, 2012 Toronto, Ontario M6B 2H7
Tel. (416) 784-5663
magda@decollective.ca
Mr. John Traversy
Secretary General
Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2
Re: NOTICE OF INTERVENTION TO ALL TORONTO APPLICANTS OF THE
CRTC 2012-126 and CRTC 2012-126
We would like to speak in person at the May 7 hearing.
Mr. Secretary-General:
1.
In response to Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2012-126,
and to express our support to the Chairman and Commissioners of the
CRTC for their upcoming challenge of choosing the supposedly last FM
license in the GTA and to remind all the applicants and the CRTC of the
enormous responsibility that this license entails. We are including a
submission of this application to all applicants.
2.
Today we finally come with a registered non-for-profit corporation
called – Diversity Emerging Music Collective – that knows where is
going and how. A collective that is hearing the voices of the diversity
emerging artists and will use their comments to propose specific plans
to improve their access to the broadcasting system in Canada at large.
3.
As we are currently in the process of surveying the country, those
plans will be presented during the May 7th
hearing.

2. Page 2
4.
With an ethnic and diverse background we have approached the CRTC
in several occasions: 1999 in the Review of the Third Language and
Ethnic Programming; 2006 in the Review of the Commercial Radio
Policy; 2007-5 in the Diversity of Voices Proceeding and in January
2008-4 Regulatory Policy – Diversity of Voices. Our experience has
always been positive as in more than one way, we felt our comments
were heard, documented and recognized.
5.
Since 1999 the Canadian music industry “diverse and emerging”
spectrum has had an evolution as both positive and negative. On the
negative side: the elimination of the Canadian Musical Diversity Fund;
the disappearance of Maplethnic for Canadian Ethnic Recordings
(sponsored by the CAEB, Canadian Association of Ethnic Broadcasters
and CCD, Canadian Content Development) and that although,
FACTOR; STARMAKER; CMW; SOCAN and others have developed
somewhat – the diverse and emerging artists needs much more
further assistance to progress.
6.
In the positive side we are experiencing the “necessity is the mother of
invention” syndrome. See below recent comments from the Globe &
Mail about The Junos, Cancon and Canada’s Music Industry.
7.
“Bands like ourselves were not going to get on radio and be signed to a
Canadian label, so we just did our own thing. If we’d stayed in Canada
and played the game, hoping to get our songs on the radio, it never
would have happened. So it made us think internationally: Let’s go play
for kids in Eastern Europe. You’re forced to create your own audience –
and that becomes your backdoor entrance into the Canadian music
industry.” Damian Abraham, singer for a Juno nominated band and Globe & Mail -March
31, 2012.
8.
Canadian culture arguably becomes both stronger and more authentic by
this enforced exposure to a wider world.

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9.
“There’s a social benefit to telling our own stories to our own people and
hearing our own music,” he says. “But happily, there’s a huge export
market, which creates jobs and fills our pocketbook.” Stephen Stohn,
entertainment lawyer, Epitome Pictures and Globe & Mail – March 31, 2012
10.
But how do cultural aspirations change when alt-culture has overtaken
Cancon values, and bands such as Arcade Fire dominate the Junos? It’s a
post-Juneau question that troubles Damian Abraham. “Indie rock has
become the mainstream and we’ve lost the vibrant underground culture
we had in the eighties and nineties,” he says. “I’m concerned that
underground music won’t have a chance to develop. You need time to find
your sound and get people to come to your shows. Otherwise, it could all
fall apart very quickly.”
11.
So keep Cancon and its bland stereotypes intact: The edginess of
Canadian culture depends on it. Globe & Mail, March 31, 2012
12.
Following the “necessity is the mother of invention” syndrome; music
related companies are doing the same: Indie Pool with their QR codes and
mobile websites for free; Lula Lounge and partners with Canadian World
Music.com compiling a list of Ontario music artists. The, INCUBATE, an
innovative pilot funding program, created to assist Toronto artists in
developing the earliest planning stages new work and promoting it to
international markets.
13.
Finally and the most exciting of all is how some mainstream radio stations,
on their own, are embracing helping the diverse and emerging artist. As an
example, RAWLCO, with radio grants for $10,000 for the first album’s costs
and then airplay for exposure. Or ASTRAL, with the first Canadian Latin
based artist on rotation. OR Z103 that for years chooses and plays a
summer song from a foreign country. And the three of them create
revenue, eh?

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14.
To close, and for the CRTC to hear and read other diversity voices, we are
enclosing several comments from artists from different parts of Canada, as
we would like to include as many voices as possible in our quest.
15.
Yes, Councillor Cugini, we are now in the position to approach all the
stations while trying to help the diverse and emerging artist of Canada but
we want to do it with the voice and experiences of the diverse and emerging
artist in Canada.
16.
The GTA, Greater Toronto Area, with its 5.2 million Canadians is the cultural,
entertainment, and financial capital of the nation and the goal for every
Canadian diverse and independent artist to conquer.
17.
We are looking forward to present a thorough final survey and suggestions
to assist in the development of our diverse and emerging artists in the most
diverse city in world Toronto, a world within a city that for five years in a
row the United Nations has designated as “the world’s most ethnically
diverse city”.
Sincerely,
Magda de la Torre
Magda de la Torre
Director
decollective.ca
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