Music Publishers Canada is excited to launch “Future of Work” report

Music Publishers Canada is excited to launch “Future of Work” - an important new member resource. The report examines the state of employment in the music publishing industry in Canada from a human resources lens and offers tools to help music publishing companies of all sizes adapt and thrive in a dynamic marketplace. 

Music Publishers Canada worked with Include.Me(e) to conduct research on the state of employment in Canadian music publishing. Include.Me(e) is a consultancy established to foster and enable an inclusive and equitable journey in the workplace. 

The focus of this project was not on creative aspects of the industry but instead on the business side, specifically the human resources and the skills required to foster positive growth for the sector. During two periods in 2021 and 2022, Include.Me(e) gathered primarily qualitative data from music publishing companies and other music related companies on the topics of talent acquisition, retention, and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). 

“As the music publishing industry changes and grows so, too, does the demand for new kinds of skills, knowledge, and experience. Additionally, our sector recognizes the invaluable need to include voices of historically excluded groups in companies of all sizes. Many of our member companies, and organizations in the creative industries at large, don’t have the HR resources to make the changes that they want and need to make. This report aims to help with that by providing valuable and practical HR tools,” said Margaret McGuffin, CEO of Music Publishers Canada. 

The report not only explores what the industry looks like currently but also offers practical solutions to help companies grow in the right way to ensure a thriving creative and financial future. The focus on providing practical tools and templates is to address the fact that while many companies and organizations hear and agree with the theory of “best practices”, they do not have access to the proper HR resources to implement them. This report outlines how to adopt the “the right practices”. 

Music Publishers Canada will be working with WorkInCulture this Fall to release this full package of resources to the wider creative industries. 

"Future of Work is a valuable suite of HR tools and resources for organizations and companies across the creative and cultural industries," said Diane Davy, Executive Director of WorkInCulture. "The focus on "right practices" in hiring, retaining and fostering workers will be of benefit to any organization that wishes to impact change in their own workplace, and in the wider creative sector." 

The report can be found here.

MPC and Include.Me(e) would like to thank ADVANCE and WorkInCulture for acting as advisors on this project. We would also like to thank Ontario Creates for their generous support in supporting this work. 

Ontario Creates is an agency of the Government of Ontario that facilitates economic development, investment and collaboration in Ontario’s creative industries including the music, book, magazine, film, television and interactive digital media sectors. 

WorkInCulture is a nonprofit arts service organization that advances the careers of artists, creatives, and cultural workers from diverse lived experiences, and supports the organizations that engage them, through entrepreneurial and business skills development and innovative research.