As the music industry returns from the holiday breaks and out-of-office replies expire, a number of issues continue to loom.
With the calendar turning over to 2026, Billboard Canada takes a look at some of the political, legislative, financial and creative issues that continue to affect music in Canada. Many reflect broader conversations that have been hotly debated for the last few years, but continue to intensify with changing pressures and political situations, both north and south of the border.
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Here is a taste of what we’re following into 2026.
Ongoing Debates Around The Online Streaming Act and ‘Streaming Tax’
Back in 2023, Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, updated the country’s laws around broadcasting for the first time since 1991.
On June 4, 2024, the CRTC announced streaming platforms that are not affiliated with a Canadian broadcaster and make at least $25 million a year will have to pay 5% of their annual Canadian revenues in order to contribute to Canadian Content.
Platforms affected would include big music streamers like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, as well as TV and film services like Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime. These foreign streaming platforms have launched legal challenges to avoid paying those fees, arguing they are already contributing to Canadian Content.
The Online Streaming Act remains a very hot political potato, with intense U.S. government and entertainment industry pressure being placed upon the Canadian government to dismantle the act. It is now rumoured that this contentious topic will be a key part of upcoming United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiations between the Canadian and U.S. governments in 2026.
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Canadian industry leaders are now warning that an increasing number of Canadian TV and radio stations could close if the act becomes a casualty of the trade war with the United States.
Canadian Record Label Layoffs
In early December, Billboard Canada reported that Warner Music Canada laid off at least 24 employees in Nov. 2025, a significant percentage of the major label’s staff. The cuts came amidst global restructuring and layoffs at Warner Music Group.
Significant staffing cuts at major record labels in Canada and internationally have been recurring in recent years, a trend expected to continue in 2026. In Feb. 2024, Universal Music Group announced a “strategic organizational redesign,” including job cuts, to generate U.S. $270 million in savings globally by 2026.
As global companies continue to consolidate, could there be more cuts coming across the Canadian music industry?
The AI Question
The explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology is already having a major impact on the music industry, forcing artists, music companies and trade organizations to rapidly assess and address both the opportunities and dangers AI presents.
The three major North American performing rights societies (PROs), SOCAN (Canada) and ASCAP and BMI (U.S.), have responded rapidly. In October, they announced they have each adopted policies to accept registrations of musical compositions partially generated using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Similar conversations are happening across the music industry. The song “I Run” by electronic duo HAVEN. is charting on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 currently, and has become a case study for questions around AI-generated music.
Meanwhile, industry stakeholders are speaking up about AI before the Canadian House of Commons.
“Nearly every song ever written by a Canadian songwriter has already been scraped and stolen by these AI companies without consent, credit or compensation,” Music Publishers Canada (MPC) CEO Margaret McGuffin told Billboard Canada after speaking in Ottawa. “This is an important issue for creators and businesses in the creative industries and it is wonderful that the Heritage Committee is listening.”
Read more 2026 Canadian music issues here. — Kerry Doole
It’s always a Merry Christmas for Michael Bublé.
The Canadian singer’s 2011 Christmas album hit No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart again for the chart week dated Dec. 27, 2025, unseating Taylor Swift‘s juggernaut The Life of a Showgirl from the top spot after 10 weeks.
The album has stayed at No. 1 for the chart dated Jan. 3, 2026.
The No. 1 placement extends his record for hitting No. 1 in the most different calendar years. The album has reached the apex in 2011, 2012, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and now 2025 and 2026. That’s 10 different calendar years total, including eight consecutive.
Bublé finished at No. 7 on the inaugural Top Canadian Artists year-end chart for 2025, which combines data from the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 and Canadian Albums charts. The timeless crooner’s catalogue success has a lot to do with that ranking, with Christmas having earned a spot as an all-time holiday favourite in his home country.
Christmas has sold over 16 million physical copies worldwide and racked up billions of streams, and has been billed by his label Reprise as the best-selling Christmas album of the 21st century.
Read more on the feat here. — Richard Trapunski
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