Inside Out: The Internationalization of the Canadian Independent Recording Sector

Canadian Indie Games Between the Global and the Local

“…Game development has generally clustered around major cities with strong media and cultural industries, in particular film/television production, animation and special effects, and software development, which have overlapping knowledge and skill sets; the game industry has thus reproduced the familiar hub/margin dynamic of Canadian economic and cultural history, with Vancouver, Montréal, Toronto, and to a lesser extent, Edmonton, emerging as key sites in the global game industry (Dyer-Witheford & Sharman, 2005). Richard Sutherland (2015) notes that globalization of cultural industries "offers us an expanded set of actors alongside nations, operating across their borders, and at times competing with them for power" (p. 300). Municipal and provincial governments have welcomed the arrival of studios affiliated with major multinational gaming corporations, such as Electronic Arts (EA) from America and Ubisoft from France, which in turn benefit from concentrations of skilled workers, a favourable exchange rate, and most importantly substantial tax incentives (Dyer-Witheford & Sharman, 2005).…”

“…Municipal and provincial governments have welcomed the arrival of studios affiliated with major multinational gaming corporations, such as Electronic Arts (EA) from America and Ubisoft from France, which in turn benefit from concentrations of skilled workers, a favourable exchange rate, and most importantly substantial tax incentives (Dyer-Witheford & Sharman, 2005). Different parts of the country have different degrees of support and funding for games (Consalvo, 2013;Joseph, 2013), but in parallel to the Canadian music industry (Sutherland, 2015) they are generally weighted toward medium-to-large companies and multinationals. EA, Ubisoft, and others have spurred substantial growth in the sector, much as American film and television production in Canada has helped foster and sustain domestic production infrastructure (Urqhart, 2012), but these major corporations also buy up successful Canadian game studios, leaving the domestic industry "vulnerable to the mobility of multinational anchors," (Dyer-Witheford & Sharman, 2005, p. 197) who may relocate if better circumstances arise elsewhere (see Sciretta, 2017).…”

“…Following Stuart Hall, identification is a multiple and fluid process, not singular and fixed, "constructed within, not outside, discourse" and therefore "produced in specific historical and institutional sites within specific discursive formations and practices, by specific enunciative strategies" (1996, p. 4). Our approach is also informed by studies of media production and cultural industries, especially those dealing specifically with the Canadian context (Dorland, 1996;Druick & Deveau, 2015;Sutherland, 2015;Wagman & Urqhart, 2012) and digital games (Kerr, 2016;O'Donnell, 2014). This article analyzes three vectors of identity and community among Canadian indie game developers: global/transnational, local, and national.…”

Shine a Light: Surveying Locality, Independence, and Digitization in Ottawa’s Independent Rock Scene

“…In a contemporary musical marketplace characterized by declining record sales and a smaller cross-section of "blockbuster" artists, the major record companies have come to increasingly rely on strategies that include: Licensing songs to other media and entertainment companies; cultivating international record sales and audiences; and creating 360-degree contracts (Stahl and Meier, 2012;Sutherland, 2015). This section will examine Kelp's negotiation and incorporation of these contemporary strategies, number of international contacts and connections -ranging from press to record labels to music publishers -are flown into the city to watch a week-long concert comprised primarily of Ottawa-based musicians.…”

“…Thus in Canada, the music industry, in both its independent and major configurations, involves the production, distribution, publishing, and performance of music. In independent music, this entails, moreover, that music is neither produced nor distributed through the Canadian subsidiaries of these "big three" labels, with multinational extensions (Sutherland, 2015). This is particularly important since the Canadian subsidiaries of the major labels are primarily involved with importing international music into the Canadian marketplace (Sutherland, 2015, p. 298).…”