MROC is planning to wind down its operations, likely by mid-2025, once all royalties have been paid. After thoroughly exploring several alternatives, the MROC Board ultimately determined that a wind-down is in the best interests of MROC’s Members and its represented performers. A proposal to that effect will be presented to MROC’s Members at the Annual General and Special Meeting to be held on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. However, until the proposal has been confirmed by MROC’s Membership the wind-down and timing is not certain. There is therefore no action that performers need to take at this time; MROC will inform performers after May 7th if their action is required.
In the expectation that the Membership will approve the wind-down plan, MROC is making preparations to ensure that there will be no lapse in performers’ representation or royalty collection and distribution. MROC is arranging for the transfer of all mandates that it holds as of December 31, 2024 to another collective in the industry, ARTISTI. As part of this arrangement, MROC and ARTISTI will take care of the transfer of performers’ repertoire data to the ARTISTI system. However, performers will have options to select another collective to represent them as described further below.
A number of factors contributed to this decision: MROC’s relatively small base of high royalty earners; its position in the industry; industry-wide declining revenues in recent years; among others. MROC’s financial position has been weakened to the extent that the organization is not strong enough to continue for an indeterminate period of time. MROC had been seeking to combine with one or more other collectives for several years but without success. MROC therefore has taken this course as a last resort.
It is the Members of MROC who will vote on the resolutions regarding the wind down of the organization. MROC’s Members are composed of:
- Each Canadian local of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada; and
- Five special Members Classes as follows:
Class A – Vice-President from Canada of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada
Class B – the Canadian Conference of Musicians
Class C – the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM)
Class D – la Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec (GMMQ)
Class E – any performer who received a minimum of $500 in remuneration from MROC in each of two consecutive calendar years since 2020.
If you qualify to vote as a Class E Member, you would have been notified of your eligibility by a separate communication.
Performers will be able to choose the collective that will take over payment of their royalties after December 31, 2024. MROC is finalizing an agreement to transfer its mandates and related repertoire to another performer collective in Canada, ARTISTI, to ensure that there will be no lapse in representation for its performers after December 31, 2024.
However, MROC-represented performers (and any related agents) will have two opportunities to override the transfer of their mandate to ArtistI if they wish their royalties to be handled by another organization:
- Before December 31, 2024: they may terminate their mandates with MROC and sign with another collective effective December 31, 2024. The other Canadian options are ACTRA RACS and Re:Sound.
- After December 31, 2024 but before March 31, 2025: they may give ARTISTI notice that they wish to terminate their mandate with ARTISTI effective 15 days from the notice date.
MROC will release performer mandates as of December 31, 2024 which is the automatic renewal date for any MROC mandates that are expiring this year. Performers will be given an opportunity to notify us in advance of their wish to change their representative as of December 31, 2024 to a society other than ARTISTI and we will incorporate that into the various data systems, both domestic and international, used by the collecting societies to ensure the transfer is made as of December 31, 2024.
However, mandates will not be released before December 31, 2024. This end date for mandates has been chosen to allow for mandate and repertoire data to be modified to reflect the collective who will represent each performer after MROC in one consolidatedprocess, at a time when few distributions are underway, rather than sporadically throughout the coming months. This single transfer will allow for better coordination among the collectives of the data that must be amended and better ensure that performers’ royalties are not placed into conflict in subsequent stages of the distribution processes or directed to the wrong collecting society.
After the May 7th meeting we’ll provide information to represented performers about the way they can notify us in advance of the collective they are signing with effective December 31, 2024.
MROC will pay out royalties it receives up to December 31, 2024. Any royalties remaining undistributed on December 31, 2024, (for example, because of unlocatable or deceased performers who are still entitled to royalties) will be forwarded to ARTISTI or whichever collective the performer has chosen to represent them.
MROC will continue to send claims to its foreign partners where distributions by those partners are dependent on those claims. This will allow continued collection of the royalties due to MROC’s performers from foreign partners until ARTISTI, or another collective, has taken over the repertoire data and can continue with claiming on the transferred performers’ behalf. Every effort will be made to ensure that performers will not miss out on the claiming of their foreign and domestic royalties while MROC transitions its mandates to ARTISTI. MROC will accept new royalties from both Re:Sound and its foreign partners until the end of December 2024 but, after that date, all royalties received that have not already been paid out will be transferred to the collective that will represent the performer after December 31, 2024.
MROC will transfer mandate and repertoire data to ARTISTI for those performers who do not end their mandates before December 31, 2024. Some limited historical payment data will also be transferred to ARTISTI where the payments relate to open distribution periods and so are required to calculate any future payments or adjustments on that distribution period. The details of the data to be transferred will be worked out further as MROC and ARTISTI finalize their agreement regarding the mandates transfer. MROC will provide instructions to performers on any actions they need to take for the transfer of their data as these details are confirmed. MROC and ARTISTI are collaborating to ensure the transfer of performers and their data to ARTISTI will require minimal intervention from the performer.
Personal performer information that is not required for ARTISTI to perform its mandate will not be transferred. MROC will keep only data that it’s required to keep for its own corporate record-keeping obligations under law and will maintain this data securely. Performers who need their payment history and repertoire information will be responsible for downloading it from the MROC portal before it is closed.
For performers signing with a Canadian collective other than ARTISTI, a substantial portion of their repertoire will be available to that collective through Re:Sound’s centralized IT system. Performers should check with the collective they choose to determine what additional information they’ll need to provide to that collective.
In light of the changing industry, the trend in declining revenues to MROC’s members, and MROC’s generally weakened financial position, MROC’s Board has determined that the orderly wind-down of the organization and transfer of mandates to another collective is the best path forward. If the wind-down proposal is not approved, MROC will not be in a position to continue indefinitely and may eventually need to file for bankruptcy. This outcome would be detrimental to performers as their royalty payments would be halted and ultimately reduced by the relatively high costs of any bankruptcy proceedings.
If you have any questions about the wind-down plan or background, please contact us at info@musiciansrights.ca as there will be limited time during the meeting on May 7th to address questions from the floor before the vote.
