Cancon and the Top 40 Charts

Those of you who don't live in Canada (and maybe some who do) may not have heard of Cancon, or Canadian Content, laws. They dictate that a certain amount of content on any station broadcasting in Canada must be Canadian. This was brought in first as a tactic to prevent our own culture from eroding from the massive media presence of our next door neighbours (the USA), and to encourage Canadian artists to make their own music, films and TV through grants and encouraging stations to air this content.

Whether or not Cancon has worked is a matter for debate. Canada has an extremely strong music scene now and many of our artists are internationally known. But TV and movies still seem anemic in comparison. In addition, commercial radio stations will stack their playlists with artists that are already familiar with listeners, so Cancon on commercial radio usually means "The 15 or so bands and artists that got a hit in the United States". Truly homegrown artists in Canadian commercial radio are fairly rare. Also, only Canadian artists on a major label will usually get played, but this is a problem endemic to commercial radio in general, not just in Canada.

Every week I scan the Canadian and US Top 40 as part of my job, and lately I've been counting the Cancon on the Canadian charts to see if they line up with Cancon laws. By law, Canadian radio must play 35% Canadian artists, so about 1 out of every 3 songs needs to be Canadian. The Canadian charts are by no means an authoritative sampling of what's being played on commercial radio in Canada, but it remains an interesting exercise to examine them to see what's going on. Also, the charts the public have access to (Soundscan) aren't the charts that the industry uses. Those charts, you have to be a broadcaster and you have to pay to get access to them.

Each week, when I have time, I'll take a quick look at the Soundscan charts for Cancon. You can check out each week's charts every Thursday here.

Canadian artists in the Top 40 this week: Edward Maya, Michael Buble, JRDN, Nelly Furtado, Shawn Desman, Johnny Reid, Fefe Dobson, Finger Eleven, Down With Webster, Sweet Thing, Girlicious, My Darkest Days (12/40 = 30% Cancon, under the 35% needed)

Canadian artists in the Top 100 this week: Edward Maya, Michael Buble, JRDN, Nelly Furtado, Shawn Desman, Johnny Reid, Fefe Dobson (2 times), Finger Eleven, Down With Webster, Sweet Thing, Girlicious, My Darkest Days, Hedley, Doc Walker, These Kids Wear Crowns, K'Naan, Andrew Allen, Aleesia, Jake Matthews, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Three Days Grace, Dean Brody, Emerson Drive, Paul Brandt, Jann Arden, Marianas Trench, High Valley, Gord Bamford, Stef Lang, Billy Talent, Sarah MacLachlan, Bryan Adams. (34/100, 34% Cancon, closer to the mark)

Homegrown artists in the Top 40: Edward Maya, JRDN, Shawn Desman, Johnny Reid, Fefe Dobson, Down with Webster, Sweet Thing, Girlicious (8 out of 40)

Interesting blip on this week's charts: American artist Brad Paisley at #24, he's not on the American Top 40 chart anywhere.