Alan Cross
Aside from obvious self-interest , it appears many people ’ s opinion is determined by their view of CanCon ’ s purpose . Should the goal remain as it has always been , to provide platforms for Canadians to hear their own stories – regardless of genre or commercial success – in a cultural marketplace dominated by our southern neighbour ? Or should CanCon ’ s purpose evolve and be about giving a leg up to emerging Canadian talent , allowing them to compete against established stars ?
A proponent of the latter is Gregg Terrence , president and founder of the Canadian Independent Recording Artists ’ Association ( CIRAA ). Back in 2005 , prior to the creation of CIRAA , Terrence created the Let ’ s Fix CanCon website and petition , proposing a comprehensive overhaul of the CanCon formula that would see it transition from a volume-based system where all CanCon is created equal , to a credits-based system that would incentivize playing unknown and emerging acts . The perceived problem was that radio ’ s CanCon quotas were being filled by established stars , which in 2005 was the likes of Nickelback , Avril Lavigne , and Sarah McLachlan . Essentially , CanCon was a victim of its own success . It created a star system where there wasn ’ t one and now those stars were clogging the airwaves for lesser-known artists . Today , this problem ( if you consider it one ) is even more acute as Canada pumps out more mainstream stars than it did 10 years ago .
Terrence ’ s proposed solution would create four tiers of credits with radio stations needing to amass a certain number of credits to comply with CanCon rules . In its most basic terms , the proposed system would award . 75 credits for a spin of an “ international artist ” ( i . e . Drake ); 1.0 credit for an “ established artist ” ( i . e . Tragically Hip ); 1.25 credits for a “ national artist ” ( i . e . Monster Truck ); and 1.5 credits for a “ developing artist ” ( i . e . someone you probably haven ’ t heard of ). Looking back on the proposal 11 years later , Terrence says , given the current landscape of Canadian stars , he ’ d create a larger credit for younger and newer acts , but by and large thinks it ’ s still a good idea .
“ I guess the answer to your big question of ‘ Do we still need CanCon ?’ I believe under the right conditions , yes . As it currently exist ? I ’ m not sure it ’ s that relevant . You know , when you can play Drake and The Weeknd followed by Alessia Cara and so on and so on , CanCon is not helping radio promotors break a new Canadian band the way it should ,” Terrence tells Canadian Musician . “ As it currently
Arts & Crafts ’ Jason Burns
exists , I ’ m not sure it ’ s being very effective or even that felt within radio because of Canada ’ s current international success . The timing of your question and the timing of this article , this is a unique moment in time where we have seven or eight out of 10 at the top of the Billboard chart . This is an unusual time , but if you go back a couple of years and go forward a couple of years , I believe what would help Canadian record companies , I believe what would help Canadian artists , I believe what would help Canadian radio and radio listeners would be more effective CanCon rather than being only volume-based .”
Around the same time as Terrence was proposing his credit-based Let ’ s Fix CanCon solution , Cross was at Corus Entertainment , parent company of 102.1 The Edge , thinking along similar lines . As he explains , commercial radio stations need money to survive , which means they need ad revenue . They get ad revenue with high ratings , and they get high ratings by playing hits ; therefore , there needs to be an incentive for commercial radio stations to stray from the hits and play something less familiar to listeners .
“ When I was doing some work with Corus Entertainment a number of years ago , what we proposed was some kind of emerging artist incentivization situation . I can ’ t remember what the formula was , but say maybe the play of an emerging artist – and we can talk about what that means and what he definition of an ‘ emerging artist ’ is and that ’ s another story entirely – but for every play of an emerging artist ’ s song , that would count as two plays of an established Canadian hit ,” Cross explains before pointing out the problem with this idea . “ That works fine for any kind of contemporary music , but what a lot of people tend to overlook is there is a large appetite for adult hits and classic rock . They don ’ t make classic rock anymore and they don ’ t make adult hits anymore , so what we end up having is that these radio stations are lost in the argument when they say that we should bump CanCon to 37 per cent or 40 per cent or whatever it is . What are they supposed to play ? More Neil Young and Tragically Hip and Guess Who ?”
That is one variable to consider . Another , pointed out by Arts & Crafts artist manager Jason Burns ( Hey Rosetta !, Rich Aucoin , etc .), is should a tiered system be primarily concerned with the artists at the bottom , or does it make more economic sense to focus on the mid-level bands to help them cross the next threshold ? “ So if you ’ re talking about categorizing Metric as a number two , I would argue that they ’ re , relatively , only a few degrees shy of being in with the Drake and Arcade Fire category . So maybe they need the extra support to get into the international stage .”
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