Apple and Spotify are telling Quebec to slow down on its plan to force streaming apps to highlight more French content and change how their algorithms work.
Spotify warned the government that “Imposing rigid quotas or obligations affecting algorithms could harm the user experience and reduce the effectiveness of personalized recommendation systems that are essential to music discovery.” The company says it already puts French music and podcasts in front of users, adding that French listening in Quebec rose 16% last year and 32% among 18- to 24-year-olds, reports The Gazette.
The streaming service also said that adding technical restrictions could push users away, arguing it would hurt engagement and might send listeners to unauthorized platforms.
Apple raised similar concerns. The company says it already promotes francophone culture through its Montreal-based editorial team, but warned that “An inflexible, uniform approach could harm the business models of our services and the work of these employee teams, which would negatively impact engagement and efforts to promote Quebec creators.”
There’s also a Montreal team Apple has that “curates offerings to ensure that francophone cultural content is highlighted and easy to find” for its customers. The iPhone maker also argued that classic broadcast-style quotas don’t fit how streaming works today, saying the rules could limit choice and reduce the amount of content available.
Apple says Quebec should follow “a principles-based approach that would allow a unique and creative service like ours to make francophone content accessible. This could, for example, include guidance on the scope of Apple’s sharing of French-language content.”
Both companies say they support access to French-language culture but believe the government’s plan could backfire.
Washington-based Digital Media Association (DIMA), which represents the likes of Amazon, Apple, Pandora, Spotify and YouTube, said the Quebec plan could mean losses for creators. “Quebec artists could lose on two fronts: less royalties for local creators and fewer tools to increase their visibility and reach,” said their brief.
Earlier this month, Netflix and YouTube filed their briefs to the Quebec government, similarly firing back against the same streaming law regulations.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
Maybe of Quebec would prefer to have the choice to search out the French language artists in Quebec or other parts of Canada or even France or other French speaking locations.
I'm in English, speaking citizen of Ontario and I like listening to other languages in my music and when I hear one I definitely search it out and look for other songs. Why that artist. I don't need my music platform to be forced to show me what I might want.