This is another one of those 'the opinions of this blogger don't necessarily reflect the opinons of this website/radio station/or company that owns this website and radio station'. Then again ... they might, but I might be the only one crusty enough on Canada day to bring it up.
Oh Ca-na-daaaaah. Our home and native land - home of some of classic rock and rock and folk rock’s ultimate bands. The old(er) guard - Neil Young, The Guess Who, The Band, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, April Wine, BTO, Rush. The new(er) guard – The Tragically Hip, Bryan Adams, Colin James, Lee Aaron, The Tea Party Triumph, Max Webster, Kim Mitchell, Sloan, Blue Rodeo, Bruce Cockburn, …….. And the newest guard, some of which you like, some of which our kids like: Tom Wilson, Matt Good, Nickelback, O.L.P., City and Colour, Metric, Feist, Ron Sexsmith, Sum 41 and on and on and on.
Then there’s all those bands that aren’t from Canada with songs that are deemed Canadian enough to qualify as what’s none as Canadian Content, the can-con that you hear all the time and maybe wonder why so much??? Like all that early Heart (recorded in Vancouver), all the Steppenwolf (formed in L.A. by a German and some Americans and Canadians), Nazareth ‘This Flight Tonight” (Scottish band covering Joni Mitchell). I’m not suggesting these bands/songs aren’t good and worthy of airplay. It’s simply disproportionate, simply because it qualifies as Canadian Content. Better example yet??? “Under My Thumb”. Why on earth would radio play the version by the band Streetheart, instead of the Rolling Stones version? Can-con baby, that’s why. Does anybody really want to hear 'Sunny Days' again? It was already beaten to death by an ad for some car. Or 'Signs'. Sign signs everywhere signs is right. Enough already.
Running a Classic Rock station and keeping legal with the goverment simply means you have to play things you wouldn't otherwise play because the audience simply wouldn't want to hear them, at the very least not that often. If we never heard 'Working for the Weekend' again, wouldn't that be cause for celebration?
Yes, Canada is home of the antiquated protectionist entity known as ‘Can-Con’, the regulation that continues to be imposed by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that requires
radio and
television broadcasters (including cable and satellite
specialty channels) air a certain
percentage of
content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from
Canada. Can-con is also used to describe the content itself, and, more generally, to cultural and creative content that is Canadian in nature, but to me, can-con means regulation. And I hate that with great passion. So much so, if I didn’t have to make a living to pay a mortgage I would make it my premiere goal to find a way to abolish the can-con requirement for radio.
Other countries employ similar
quota systems. For example,
Australian broadcasters are required to broadcast a certain percentage of
Australasian content alongside international content. Similar domestic content quota laws also exist in the
Philippines,
Mexico,
Nigeria,
France,
Israel,
Ireland,
South Africa,
Jamaica, the
United Kingdom, and
New Zealand. (In the UK, Ireland, and France, this rule is now a
European Union content rule rather than a domestic content rule).
Apparently there is a fear that without a regulatory system, independent Canadian popular culture would be swallowed up by our friends in the U.S. I say B.S.
For music on radio, the requirements are referred to as the MAPL system. Cute, like Maple - some acronyms just fall from the sky – more on how MAPL works below).
Following an extensive public hearing process organised by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the MAPL system, created by Stan Klees (co-creator of the
Juno Award), was adopted as a way to define and identify Canadian content in pieces of music for the purposes of increasing exposure of Canadian music on Canadian radio through content regulations governing a percentage (25%) of airplay that is to be devoted to Canadian music. The percentage was increased to 30 per cent in the 1980s, and to 35 per cent in 1998. I was on a Canadian Music Week panel shortly after the increase to 35%, and when asked by the moderator what I would do if it increased to 40 and I passionately blurted out “f&^$%quit”. It was met with equal parts laughter and surprise. But seriously, the requirements have become ridiculous.
For the record, I should point out that some radio stations — especially those playing formats where there may be a limited number of Canadian recordings suitable for airplay, such as
classical,
jazz or "
oldies", may be allowed by the CRTC to meet Canadian content targets as low as 20 per cent. But what about 'Classic Rock'? It's truly the 'oldies' of our generation and the government needs to adjust the numbers to make it make sense too.
There’s a reason why bands like The Guess Who, Neil Young, The Band, April Wine, The Tragically Hip are heard on the radio not less than every 2 hours – GOVERNMENT REGULATION. I used to love the Hip. I can’t even listen to them now because of what radio, via the government has done to them.
The Other Side of the coin:
Before the MAPL system was established in 1971
Canadian music was regarded with indifference by many on Canadian radio. I'll buy that, then again truth be told, the best records were being produced in England, London in particular and in New York and L.A., so who could blame radio for playing the best stuff and foregoing the substandard records? The government was convinced that Canadian musicians in Canada needed a leg up, and so it was – Can-con regulations.
How the MAPL system works
To qualify as Canadian content a musical selection must generally fulfil at least two of the following conditions:
- M (music) — the music is composed entirely by a Canadian.
- A (artist) — the music is, or the lyrics are, performed principally by a Canadian.
- P (production) — the musical selection consists of a performance that is:
- recorded wholly in Canada, or
- performed wholly in Canada and broadcast live in Canada.
- L (lyrics) — the lyrics are written entirely by a Canadian.
There are four special cases where a musical selection may qualify as Canadian content:
- The musical selection was recorded before January 1972 and meets one, rather than two, of the above conditions.
- It is an instrumental performance of a musical composition written or composed by a Canadian.
- It is a performance of a musical composition that a Canadian has composed for instruments only.
- The musical selection was performed live or recorded after September 1, 1991, and, in addition to meeting the criterion for either artist or production, a Canadian who has collaborated with a non-Canadian receives at least half of the credit for both music and lyrics.
Back to the Controversy
Some Canadians (I’m first in this line) believe that Cancon represents an unreasonable and undemocratic intrusion into the right of consumers to make their own entertainment choices.
Some musicians and critics suggest that radio stations tend to fulfill their Canadian content quotas by playing "safe" choices, i.e. well-established artists such as
Shania Twain,
The Tragically Hip or
Bryan Adams, to the exclusion of emerging artists. In fact, artists who are not established are sometimes forced to build an audience outside Canada before Canadian radio will play them, the very thing the Canadian content rules were designed to remedy. For example,
Arcade Fire had no commercial radio airplay in Canada until months after the band was widely anointed rising stars in the
American music media, while
Daniel Powter had to reach the pop charts in
Europe before Canadian radio played his music.
In 2005, the website
Indie Pool launched a campaign to have the CRTC review and modify the current Canadian content rules to put greater stress on supporting new and emerging artists. The group's petition is signed by approximately 5,000 Canadian artists and music fans to date, but is not widely supported by Canadian media or acknowledged by the CRTC.
In 2006, the
Canadian Association of Broadcasters, in a submission to the CRTC, proposed a lessening of Canadian content regulating to 25 per cent, arguing that conventional radio faced more competition from alternative music sources such as
Internet radio,
satellite radio and
iPods, and, in the same submission, proposed stricter new guidelines on the licensing of new radio stations. In another submission,
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting argued the Canadian broadcasting industry is in a healthy position and did not need to have the Canadian content rules relaxed. Essentially they are saying radio has enough listeners and is making enough money – AS IF that’s the bloody issue for music fans! It’s NOT about money. It’s about listening to music based on WANT rather than regulations, says ME).
I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars (of radio company money) on playing music for radio listeners in large rooms, to find out what songs they want to hear more and which songs they don’t want to hear more. Without fail, the majority of the songs that fall in the bottom of the stack are Canadian and it’s not because Canadians don’t like Canadian music, it’s because the high can-con quota required (35%) forces stations to be a disproportionate amount of Canadian music.
A Quick Bit of Important Math
And if you don’t agree with me, perhaps think about it from a population standpoint.
The UK (you know, where Classic Rock was Born ;) has population is in excess of 60 million.
The US population has a population in excess of 300 million.
Canada’s population is approx. 31 Million.
While I would like to see the can-con regulation scrapped altogether, let’s assume that’s unrealistic at this point, and just go with the numbers at hand. Meaning Canada represents less than 10 percent of the population of the total of world’s most prolific exporters of rock music. So how about it CRTC – how about 10%.
If I were a musician, I would hate to wonder if a station added my music because it was as good as the rest of the songs in the pile vs. because it was fulfilling a Can-con regulation imposed by the Government.
Happy Canada day eh.
Jeff