Cirpa Looks To The Future

The next president of the Canadian Independent Record Production Assn. will face daunting domestic issues as well as the challenge of sharing expertise and experiences with peer industry associations around the globe. Current president Brian Chater is due to conclude his term at the association's meeting June 17 in Barcelona.

CIRPA is a key member of a worldwide loose coalition of independent music companies. The coalition includes such industry associations as the Assn. of Independent Music in the United Kingdom, the Assn. of Independent Record Labels in Australia, IMNZ (New Zealand), ABMI (Brazil), UFI (Spain) and Impala (Europe).

CIRPA, founded in 1975 and based in Toronto, represents the interests of the English-speaking independent music sector in Canada. Its 200 members include Canadian-owned labels, recording studios, audio and video producers and music publishers.

Chater, president of CIRPA since 1987, has forged strong relationships with other independent association heads, particularly with Alison Wenham, chairman and chief executive at AIM, and two Impala executives, VP Patrick Zelnik and deputy secretary general Helen Smith.

"I have tremendous relationships with people all over the world," he notes. "We meet several times a year and discuss how we handle different issues. These days we're not just dealing in our own worlds but in a worldwide context."

Chater lauds the coming of the Assn. of American Independent Music, which is expected to launch within a month in the United States.

"As far as we're concerned, the sooner they are operating the better," he says. "Obviously, the U.S. is the biggest market and it will be helpful to have an independent association there to cooperate with."

Chater's departure comes at a contentious time for Canadian independents. The federal government is expected to announce significant revisions to the Canadian Copyright Act. And the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is slated to announce a review of its commercial radio policy.

Furthermore, funding for Canada's independent sector could be in jeopardy after federal government funding for its Tomorrow Starts Today cultural program expires March 31, 2006.

The music industry here also is awaiting the results of a Canadian Recording Industry Assn. appeal last month of a 2004 federal court decision that stated the online transfer of unauthorized music files does not constitute copyright infringement under current Canadian law.

However, Chater cautions, "The core issues facing our industry haven't changed over the years. They are still copyright and about independents getting access to funding, distribution and marketing. The difference is each issue is more complicated today."

Prior to coming to Canada from England in 1966, Chater was copyright manager of publisher Mills Music in London. In Canada, he has headed such publishing houses as Burlington Music, Summerlea Music and Almo-Irving Music. He continues to operate his own publishing company, Avenue Road Music Group.

Chater is also a founding and current director of the Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Records (FACTOR) and the Neighbouring Rights Collective of Canada. He serves as secretary treasurer to the Canadian Private Copying Collective and as director of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency.

Chater's impending departure from CIRPA hardly comes as a surprise. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2002. Though the cancer is now in remission, and he has been working full time for the past year, it has been clear for some time he would soon pass the torch. He will, however, stay on as an consultant to CIRPA for an indefinite period and continue to work with other associations.

FACTOR president Heather Ostertag says, "Brian has been a pit bull for the independent industry in Canada. With very little money, he has produced extraordinary results."

Jim West, who runs Distribution Fusion III in Montreal, and also is chairman of FACTOR and CIRPA, says, "I don't think there would be a CIRPA without Brian."

CIRPA may well be regarded as a model for other international associations in how an organization can influence a national music business.

The association—along with its French-language, Montreal-based equivalent, ADISQ—provides the organizational, commercial and political tools enabling Canada's independent sector to compete nationally and internationally.

CIRPA acts as a lobbyist on behalf of independent interests with federal and provincial governments. This includes seeking direct financial assistance for recording industry program initiatives.

It lobbied for the formation of FACTOR in 1982 and administered the funding program from 1982 to 1986, pushed for the federal government's Sound Recording Development Program in 1986 and vigorously lobbied for several current funding programs under the Department of Canadian Heritage.

"Canada has the best support system for independent labels in the world," claims Earl Rosen, president of Marquis Records in Toronto. "CIRPA's ability to represent the independents to the government for both financial and non-financial issues, including copyright, and Canadian content quotas for radio, is really important."

Bernie Finkelstein, president of True North Records in Toronto, recalls that at an international independent labels summit during MIDEM in January that "people wanted to hear what we had to say because of the accomplishments we've made in Canada." ••••