Watching the Junos on Sunday evening I beamed with pride at the abundance of talent that Canada has. First and foremost Shane Yellowbird from Hobbema made all of us proud as he was part of the opening act singing Paul Brandt’s song Alberta Bound. Every time I see him he always has a beaming smile from ear to ear and is so appreciative from the local support he receives. Yellowbird’s hard work over the past few years continues to pay off and he will only receives greater success in the future.
Artists such as Feist, Jully Black, Michael Buble and Avril Lavgine all performed and for some of their great performances I realized that I didn’t even know some of these stars were from Canada. For example, Calgary native Feist won five Junos including album of the year, had international success this past year with her hit single ‘1,2,3,4.’ Jazz artist Bublé has had success in the United Kingdom, Italy and won a Grammy this year for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for ‘Call Me Irresponsible’, which shot to number one on charts across the world.
For Canadian artists to make it internationally is a huge deal for them and our industry as a whole. The Canadian and American music industries are completely different for so many reasons. Anyone who watches the Grammy awards compared to the Junos can see the production of the awards is almost like apples and oranges. It is nothing against the show in Calgary but the caliber is still not the same. The Junos are even supported partially by the Canadian government and there were government ministers walking the red carpet before the Junos began.
The 2008 Junos marked the 37th anniversary of the awards, which date back to 1970 when the publication RPM organized the Gold Leaf Awards according to the Junos website. They were re-named in 1971 after Pierre Juneau the head of the head of the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) in 1971. (The spelling of the award was later changed when it was discovered that Juno had been the chief Goddess of the Roman Patheon.) Juneau was responsible for implementing the Canadian Content regulations (CANCON). The CRTC established a system of quotas to regulate the amount of Canadian program content broadcast. These are the rules that became known as CANCON to help to make sure Canadian artists had a fair amount of airplay.
CANCON applies to radio, television and specialty broadcasting. To qualify as Canadian content it has to apply to at least two of the following requirements or MPAL standards. The music is composed entirely by a Canadian artist; the music and/or lyrics are performed principally by a Canadian, production; the musical selection consists of a live performance that is recorded in Canada or performed wholly in Canada and broadcast live in Canada or lyrics; the lyrics are written entirely by a Canadian.
The Commercial Radio Policy states that 35 per cent of all music aired each week on all AM and FM stations must be Canadian. In addition, 35 per cent of music broadcast between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday must consist of Canadian content.
Music and entertainment continually change, from the early days of listening to an LP to tapes to CDs and downloading songs on iTunes onto your iPod. Over the years the Canadian music industry has had to adapt to these changes; for example, with CANCON. With the continued success of Canadian artists CANCON regulations are still needed in Canada. These artists benefited from having these regulations and are making Canada proud day after day. It is not to say that these artist who have had international success would not have made it with out the help of CANCON but you never know. CANCON also supports the new and upcoming artists who may not have a chance to get on the radio without CANCON. It is true that you can’t force a Canadian to buy a certain amount of Canadian music or download a percentage of Canadian music on iTunes but radio and television are still a main outlet for communication and there needs to be some regulation to ensure that Canadian content is regularly available to Canadians.
Supporting our Canadian artists must continue, whether it is buying their CDs going to their concerts or downloading their music legally from such venues as iTunes. However, if CANCON is taken away we are almost cutting off valuable resources of new up and coming artists, which are the future of our industry.