![]() P (performance): the musical selection consists of a live performance that is recorded wholly in Canada, or performed wholly in Canada and broadcast live in Canada ![]() A (artist): the music is, or the lyrics are, performed principally by a Canadian M (music): the music is composed entirely by a Canadian According to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, to qualify as CanCon, "a musical selection must generally fulfill at least two of the following conditions": The government determines a song’s Canadian-ness by using something called - and I really wish I were joking here - the MAPL system. ![]() At some point in the ’80s, the minimum was raised to 30 percent, and it was bumped up again in 1999 to 35 percent, where it still stands today. In 1968, fearful of an onslaught of American and British artists dominating the airwaves, Canada introduced a new Broadcasting Act, which required radio stations to devote at least 25 percent of their popular music programming to domestic works. That’s how we Canucks refer to Canadian content, the homegrown tunes foisted upon our channels as part of a government initiative to protect and promote our apparently fragile cultural identity. If you’ve ever driven north of the border, turned on local radio, and wondered what all those strange, unrecognizable songs were alongside the standard Top-40 schlock, allow me to enlighten you: it was CanCon. The Canadian music you know - your Shanias, your Avrils, your Weeknds - represents just the very tip of a floating 150-foot iceberg. Without Canada, Rose and Jack’s hearts would never have gone on, the Summer of ’69 would just be another season, and, of course, you wouldn’t have nearly as much chune for your headtop.Īnd yet, for every killer jam we’ve bequeathed to you over the years, there are at least a dozen more we’ve kept for ourselves. We kept Pitchfork afloat in the early aughts via the sprawling indie pretensions of Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, and made Scooter Braun stupid rich by birthing Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen. We’ve given you the unimpeachable talents of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen, as well as the far more impeachable likes of Nickelback and Snow. For decades, you’ve been the leading beneficiary of my homeland’s biggest musical exports. I am really sorry, but I need to begin by doing something terribly un-Canadian: bragging.
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