Company Envelope: Top-Tier

• Gender equality, diversity, and inclusion policy for management positions and/or the Board of Directors
• Business plan (answers provided in the portal application form)
• Financial statements for the past 3 fiscal years (PDF), prepared by a Chartered Accountant
• Agreements confirming the company’s control of Canadian rights related to the planned investments (e.g., artist/rights agreements)
• Library and Archives Canada “Legal deposit” receipts for each eligible Canadian sound recording (record labels)

Who is eligible?

• Canadian record labels
• Canadian music publishers
• Canadian artist management companies (artist managers)
• Canadian concert production companies (where the company is artistically and financially responsible for the artists’ live activities under contract)

Who is not eligible

• Non-Canadian-owned and/or non-Canadian-controlled companies (including companies not headquartered in Canada).
• Canadian music businesses that are not record labels, music publishers, or artist managers (and concert production companies that cannot demonstrate they are artistically and financially responsible for all aspects of their artists’ live activities under contract).
• Companies whose main investments relate to French-language artists (these applicants should apply to Musicaction instead of FACTOR).
• Companies already streamlined into FACTOR’s Company Envelope: Top-Tier that want to apply to FACTOR’s project-based programs instead (not eligible to return/opt back into project-based programs).
• Companies that are delinquent on required documentation/reporting or otherwise not in good standing with FACTOR (payments will not be issued until the delinquency is cleared).

Eligible expenses

• Salaries and benefits and professional fees (contracted services) for eligible activities.
• Artist, musician, backing vocals and technician fees.
• Studio and production costs (e.g., studio charges, producer fees, mastering, arrangers, artistic director, executive producer/associate producer, equipment rental, manufacturing).
• Touring/showcasing costs (e.g., equipment rentals, production expenses, promotion expenses).
• Publishing costs (e.g., music placement/song plugging, coordination/subcontracted coordination fees).
• Artist management costs (including management salaries/fees).
• Artist development and promotional costs (e.g., advertising and press, promotional materials, press photos, posters/graphic design, release expenses, music video production, promotional tour, translation fees).
• Digital/platform and software/tool costs when directly related to developing Canadian artists, promotion and audience development (e.g., metadata purchasing/processing, social media tools; data/asset management tools).
• Business travel directly tied to eligible activities (transportation, accommodation and meals), as per the Government of Canada’s Travel Directive.
• Business development costs (including travel) within program limits (e.g., finding new artists/new contracts; market development expenses).
• Administrative costs within program limits (e.g., business website and e-commerce website; subscriptions/databases; subcontractor; conferences and training; business representation; management/administration of musical works).
• Capital expenditures directly related to eligible activities (up to 10% of the contribution), within program limits.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Content or activities deemed offensive or illegal (e.g. hate propaganda, obscenity/child pornography, pornography without an educational purpose, gratuitous violence, content that denigrates an identifiable group).
• Merchandising, grant writing/administration services, and hospitality expenses (food, alcohol, etc.).
• Concert “presentation” expenses (e.g. festival production, programming series) and touring activities not related to the career development of an artist (e.g. musicals, tribute shows, corporate/charity shows).
• Capital expenditures not directly related to eligible activities (e.g. purchase of buildings, vehicles, computers; including depreciation), as well as the acquisition of catalogues.
• Dividends, premiums/bonuses and other extraordinary compensation for shareholders/owners; as well as exchange of services/in-kind costs and recoverable taxes.

Eligible geographic areas

• Canada (company headquarters based in Canada).

• FACTOR reviews applications competitively among eligible applicants, depending on the available budget.
• Applications are assessed based on the company’s ability to reach audiences (recent revenues and recent investments) and the business plan/planned investments for Canadian artists.
• Applicants are notified of their results in May.
• If approved and the funding offer is accepted, FACTOR issues payments in installments, starting with an advance, followed by payments after mid-year reporting and completion reporting are received and accepted.
• Recipients must submit a Mid-Year report (due October 31) and a Completion report (due May 31); payments may be withheld if required documentation/reporting is delinquent.

• Applicants will be notified of their results in May.
• Recipients must report their investments on a cash (not accrual) basis.
• Recipients must retain invoices, receipts, and proofs of payment for seven years for FACTOR and Revenue Canada taxation purposes.
• FACTOR reserves the right to audit recipient accounts and records to ensure compliance with the funding agreement, and recipients may be required to provide documentation during periodic program evaluations.