Data sources, definitions and methodology

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This survey collects the financial and operating data needed to produce statistics on the Sound Recording and Music Publishing Industry in Canada.

Description

This annual sample survey collects data required to produce economic statistics for the Sound Recording and Music Publishing Industry in Canada.

Data collected from businesses are aggregated with information from other sources to produce official estimates of national and provincial economic production for this industry.

Survey estimates are made available to businesses, governments, investors, associations, and the public. The data are used to monitor industry growth, measure performance, and make comparisons to other data sources to better understand this industry.

Target population

The target population consists of all statistical establishments (sometimes referred to as firms or units) classified to the Sound Recording Industries (5122) according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) during the reference year.

Definitions

Operating revenue excludes investment income, capital gains, extraordinary gains and other non-recurring items.

Operating expenses exclude write-offs, capital losses, extraordinary losses, interest on borrowing, and other non-recurring items.

Operating profit margin is derived as follows: operating revenue minus operating expenses, expressed as a percentage of operating revenue. The derived figure excludes corporation income tax paid by incorporated businesses and individual income tax paid by unincorporated businesses. For unincorporated businesses, operating profit margin includes unpaid remuneration to partners and proprietors, which is not recorded as salaries, wages and benefits. Therefore the profit estimate will be higher in industries where unincorporated proprietorships and partnerships are significant contributors.

Salaries, wages and benefits include vacation pay and commissions for all employees for whom a T4 slip was completed. This category also includes the employer portion of employee benefits for items such as Canada/Quebec Pension Plan or Employment Insurance premiums. Salaries and wages do not include working owners' dividends nor do they include the remuneration of owners of unincorporated business. Therefore the relative level of salaries, wages and benefits will be lower in industries where unincorporated businesses are significant contributors.

An active statistical establishment is one production entity or the smallest grouping of production entities which produces as homogeneous a set of goods and/or services as possible; which does not cross provincial boundaries; and for which records provide data on the value of output together with the cost of principal intermediate inputs used and cost and quantity of labour resources used to produce the output.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

The survey design was based on probability sampling and only covered the portion of the frame subject to direct data collection.

The basic objective of the survey is to produce estimates for the whole industry for incorporated and unincorporated businesses. The data come from two different sources: a sample of all businesses with revenue above or equal to a certain threshold and administrative data for businesses with revenue below the threshold, which are excluded from sampling. The excluded portion represents a substantial proportion of the industry in terms of number of establishments, but its contribution to the overall industry revenue is only about 5%. It should be noted that for this excluded portion, only certain financial information is obtained from administrative sources; e.g., total revenue, expenses such as depreciation and salaries, wages and benefits. (Note: the threshold varies between industries and between provinces in the same survey.) For this reference year, only revenue and expense variables are being produced. Questionnaires are only being sent to a subset of businesses with complex operational structures. The remaining businesses will be estimated using administrative data only.

The frame is the list of establishments from which the portion eligible for sampling is determined and the sample is taken. The frame provides basic information about each firm including: address, industry classification and other administrative information. The frame is referred to as the Business Register and is updated regularly using administrative data.

Prior to the selection of a random sample, establishments are classified into homogeneous groups (i.e., groups with the same industry, same geography (province/territory)). Quality requirements are targeted, and then each group is divided into sub-groups called strata: take-all, must-take, and take-some.

The take-all stratum represents the largest firms in terms of performance (based on revenue). The must-take stratum is comprised of units selected on the basis of complex structure characteristics (multi-establishment, multi-legal, multi-NAICS, or multi-province enterprises). All take-all and must-take firms are selected to the sample. Units in the take-some strata are subject to simple random sampling.

The sample size for the 2008 Sound Recording and Music Publishing survey was 413 collection entities.

Quality evaluation

Prior to dissemination, combined survey results are analyzed for comparability. In general, this includes a detailed review of individual responses (especially for the largest companies), general economic conditions, historic trends, and comparisons with other data sources.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data that would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization without the prior knowledge or the consent in writing of that person, business or organization. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Data accuracy

Of the units contributing to the estimate, the weighted response rate was 82.2%. CVs were calculated for each estimate and are available upon request.