Oh Canada!: A Short History of CanCon
On April 28th 1967, a world's fair opened in Montreal. Coined Expo 67, the event featured 120 countries from around the world and welcomed 50 million people over the 183 days. Expo 67 was a massive success and was the highlight of Canada's Centennial celebrations. The event sparked national pride among Canadians showcasing our achievements, helping Canada gain recognition on the international stage. The event contributed to the modernization of Canada and had an enormous impact on many cultural aspects, including the Canadian music scene. Today, we are talking about CanCon and its impact on Canadian music.
If you listened to the radio in Canada prior to 1971, the one thing you may have noticed (or not), was the absence of Canadian artists being played. Oddly enough, Canadian radio stations hardly, if ever played any music that featured a Canadian artist. The only way an artist would be considered being played on the radio would be if they became popular in the United States first. In true Canadian fashion, it appeared as if we were embarrassed by our music. Many actually felt Canadian music was subpar to the music that was being played on the radio, which consisted mainly of American and British artists. For Canadians, the music scene was a cultural wasteland, and even worse for Canadian artists trying to break out, completely non-existent.
However, in 1967, a shift within the Canadian cultural scene began to occur. The Canadian Radio-Television Commission (CRTC), a new regulatory body was created to oversee the regulation and supervision of all aspects of the Canadian broadcasting system. This included the music that was being played by Canadian radio. There was a grassroots pressure from Canadian artists who felt they were being marginalized by radio stations and, amazingly, the Canadian government responded. At the time, the head of the CRTC was Pierre Juneau* and he enforced the Broadcasting Act, 1967-68 and on January 18th, 1971, CanCon (Canadian Content) was born. The Broadcasting Act forced Canadian radio stations to have 30% of their programming dedicated to Canadian music. The CRTC went a step further to determine what, in fact, constituted Canadian Music. The CRTC deemed Canadian content by the MAPL system. MAPL refers to music, artist, performance, and lyrics. In order to qualify as Canadian content, at least two of the four requirements had to be fulfilled. Here is a quick breakdown of MAPL:
Music: the music is performed by a Canadian.
Artist: the music, or lyrics are performed principally by a Canadian.
Performance: the musical selection consists of a performance recorded wholly in Canada or
performed wholly in Canada and broadcast live in Canada.
Lyrics: lyrics written entirely by a Canadian.
This system was a huge boom for Canadian artists, as they finally had a voice within their own country. However the radio stations were on a different wavelength. First they did not like the government stepping on and dictating what they played on the airwaves, which was essentially a playlist copied from American radio. They felt it was heavy-handed and Big Brother-like. Secondly, and most importantly (at least to the radio stations), playing sub-par Canadian music ate heavily into their profits. And Canadian radio stations responded accordingly, even if the response was very Canadian-like. In order to circumvent the CRTC rulings, some radio stations played their regular content (American and British artists) during peak hours and reserved the required 30% Canadian content to off-peak hours, such as early mornings or after midnight. Playing Canadian content within these program blocks became mockingly known as “beaver hours” pulling Canadian music from “beaver bins”. Nice. The CRTC responded by regulating that the 30% Canadian content stipulations had to be met between 6am and 6 pm.
Even with the regulations, there were some artists who believed their music had a difficult time reaching a Canadian audience. Even by the 1980s, there was still a belief that Canadian music was inferior to its American and British counterparts. They felt the regulations pushed quota over quality, particularly if they were unable to replicate their success beyond Canadian borders. Oddly enough, those who did find success internationally were seen as sell outs and no longer Canadian. You cannot please everyone I guess.
Over the years, the CRTC has altered MAPL to accommodate changes within the Canadian music scene. In 1991, the CTRC added a provision for half credit for music and lyrics after Canadian Bryan Adams Waking Up the Neighbours did not qualify as Canadian content under the then current rules of MAPL. Adams co-wrote the songs with South African Robert John Mutt Lange and recorded the album primarily outside of Canada. The album would have been considered Canadian content if Adams had written all of the music and Lang wrote the music (or vice versa). As a result, it was not considered Canadian. In 2022, further changes were proposed, among them the elimination of performance.
The implementation of CanCon had a huge impact on the Canadian music scene as a whole. Radio stations eventually came on board with the regulations, encouraging a growth within the industry spawning recording studios, record labels, and a strong infrastructure that continues to this day. The CRTC is currently reviewing its policy to take into consideration the impact of AI on the music industry. There are some who continue to question the need of CanCon since the music landscape has changed with the Internet and streaming. Even if CanCon outlives its usefulness, no one can deny its impact on the Canadian music scene.
Sources for this article include:
Canadian Content, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_content
Jessica Potter and A. Davidson Duncan, Canadian Radio- Television Communications Commission, The Canadian Encyclopedia, October 16, 2011. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-radio-television-and-telecommunications-commission
Junos 2023 remind us how Canadian content regulations and funding supports music across the country, The Conversation, March 14, 2023.
Pierre Juneau, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Juneau
*Fun Fact: The Juno Awards, Canada's Music Award, was named after Pierre Juneau. He was awarded a special Juno in 1971 for Canadian Music Industry Man of the Year.
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