On Jan. 18, 1971, the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission made one of the biggest moves in the history of mass media in this country. From that day on, radio stations were required to set aside a percentage of the music they played for Canadian artists. The initial Canadian content quota was 30 per cent between 6 a.m. and midnight throughout the week.
The edict was highly controversial and hated by the radio industry. ‘You can’t tell us what to play!’ many argued, to which the government said, ‘Yes, we can. It’s now a non-negotiable part of your broadcast license.’
At issue was Canada’s cultural identity. Following the introduction of our own flag in 1965 and our 100th birthday in 1967 (complete with the massively successful Expo 67 in Montreal), national pride was running hot. One of the fights involved making sure we had a strong and successful domestic music industry.
This was more than a cultural battle designed to help Canadians hear other Canadians and to fend off a complete takeover by American and British content; it was an industrial strategy.
Before CanCon created demand for Canadian music, there wasn’t much of a recorded music industry in this country. All we had were a few struggling record labels and organizations and branch plant offices of international labels. The CanCon rules necessitated the creation of an infrastructure to support all this domestic music now required by radio. Recording studios, producers, engineers, promoters, managers, agents, grant organizations, funding mechanisms and more record labels entered the chat.
- James Cameron leaving Trump’s U.S., calls it ‘horrifying’
- Gene Hackman, wife deaths deemed ‘suspicious’ after new details revealed
- O Canada! Corus FM Radio stations to play exclusively Canadian music March 1
- Tate McRae Talks New Album, So Close to What?, World Tour, and Her Exciting Return to Canada
It was admittedly ugly for the first decade or so — a lot of substandard stuff, now forgotten, made it on the radio — but by the mid-80s, it was obvious that the CanCon rules were doing their job. We’d begun to turn out music that was popular among Canadians and doing exceptionally well internationally: Rush, Loverboy, April Wine, Triumph, BTO, Corey Hart, Cowboy Junkies and Gordon Lightfoot, among them.
Things blew up in the ’90s with Canada producing some of the biggest artists in the world: Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan sold tens of millions of albums worldwide. In the 21st century, our system produced Justin Bieber, Drake, The Weeknd, Tate McCrae, Shawn Mendes, Nelly Furtado, Arcade Fire, Nickelback, Sum 41, Simple Plan, and dozens more.
Meanwhile, our domestic scene is robust and has provided jumping-off points for nice careers for The Tragically Hip, Billy Talent, Tea Party, Sloan, Arkells, Matthew Good, 54-40, and uncountable others.
Things were so good that the minimum CanCon levels were pushed to 35 per cent, which is where they sit today. (Some radio stations voluntarily offered to play 40 per cent or more just to secure a new broadcast license.)
Get daily National news
What makes a song Canadian? That problem has always been tackled through bureaucratic means. We use something called the MAPL system. You may have seen a MAPL symbol — a four-piece pie — on a record, CD or vinyl record. Each song is evaluated for the following criteria.
M = Music. The music was written by a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant. (In the case of multiple songwriters, the majority of them have to be Canadian.)
A = Artist. The artist(s) performing the song have to be Canadian or a landed immigrant.
P = This is a weird one. You’d think that it stands for ‘producer,’ meaning the song is produced by a Canadian like, say, Bob Rock, Bob Ezerin or GGGarth Richardson. Nope. ‘P’ applies to (a) a live performance that’s recorded entirely in Canada, or (b) performed wholly in Canada and broadcast live in Canada. We’ll come back to this.
L = Lyrics. The words to the song are written by a Canadian or landed immigrant.
Two of the above criteria in any combination must be met before a song can be officially certified as Canadian.
The MAPL system has resulted in some weird quirks. One of the most famous was Bryan Adams’ global hit (Everything I Do) I Do It for You. Adams, born in Kingston, Ont., and one of the most recognizable and successful figures in Canadian music, sings the song. That’s your ‘A.’ However, because he shares the songwriting with two non-Canadians, it was originally ruled that he didn’t contribute sufficiently to the ‘M’ or ‘L’ part of the equation. Therefore, under the MAPL rules, the song was not CanCon. Insanity. (That specific issue was eventually sorted after much controversy and ridicule.)
And Adams is not alone. Under the current rules, massively successful artists like Justin Bieber, Celine Dion and Drake have songs that aren’t Canadian enough.
Meanwhile, an artist like Lenny Kravitz, born in New York City, got airplay for his cover of The Guess Who’s American Woman because the music and lyrics were written by Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman. Silly, I know.
This is the way it’s been since 1971. Now, though, there seems to be some political will to update things. The CRTC is asking for opinions on how the definition of CanCon should be updated as part of a way to modernize the Broadcasting Act. Here are the main issues:
- What is the definition of Canadian audio content?
- Where does Indigenous audio content fit in?
- What qualifies as an emerging artist, and should there be regulatory incentives for outlets to play more such artists?
- Another look at contribution frameworks that deal with priority content, including news.
- The future of AI and how it will impact on music and audio in Canada.
The first thing that’s gotta go is the outdated definition of ‘P.’ Some of the best record producers in the world have come from Canada. Anyone who knows anything about the role of a producer in the making of a song or album knows that he/she is integral to the process.
Would Pink Floyd’s The Wall be as great as it is without the input of Bob Ezerin? Nope. The contributions of Bob Rock to Metallica’s “Black” album are incalculable. Same thing with GGGarth Richardson’s work on Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 debut. ‘P’ should be changed to stand for producer, full stop.
Radio stations would play more emerging and up-and-coming artists if there was an incentive to do so. Playing unfamiliar music to audiences is risky — people are more likely to tune out and away if they hear something they don’t recognize — so let’s try (again) to make it attractive for radio stations to play more new music. I was involved in a push for this back in 2005, but it ended up going nowhere. Maybe this time.
Meanwhile, something needs to be done for radio stations that play older music like classic rock, classic hits and oldies. They’re not making old music anymore, so such radio stations and their listeners require special attention in any update of CanCon rules. Changing the ‘P’ to producer would certainly help, but so would bringing down the quota to something below 35 per cent. As it stands, many radio stations make up their CanCon requirements by burning out songs by Neil Young, Rush, The Guess Who, The Tragically Hip, and all the old favourites. It’s good for those songwriters and publishers, but boring and predictable for music fans and radio listeners.
Other things that will need to be considered:
- The role of satellite radio. SiriusXM is an American radio company that is allowed to operate in Canada because it offers a number of Canadian-centric channels. Is that still sufficient? Maybe, maybe not.
- Is there anything to be done about CanCon when it comes streaming? Bill C-11 seeks to force foreign streaming music companies like Spotify, Apple Music, Facebook and Amazon Music to invest 5 per cent of revenues over $25 million back into the Canadian system. (Canadian radio has been investing in Canadian music for decades.) The pushback on that has been very, very fierce.
Interested in getting involved in the consultations? The CRTC will take your comments until April 7. Public hearings on the matter will start June 18. Read all about it here.
This an extremely rare opportunity for the public to get involved in highly important issues involving Canadian music. Do it.
