Cancon quotas remain contentious issues in radio policy review

It’s no surprise that Cancon quotas were at the forefront during the Commercial Radio Policy hearings last week, but the importance of emerging artists – and their ability to help broadcasters hit minimum Cancon levels more quickly – was a key talking point in that discussion. As many broadcasters affirmed during the submission phase preceding the hearings, which were held in Gatineau from May 15-19, the digital delivery of audio media has had a massive impact to date on radio – and that impact continues. Indeed, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) had initially asked the CRTC to postpone the radio policy review until a later date, so that the full scope of the effect of digital media on broadcasting could be studied. CAB president Glenn O’Farrell said that thanks to digital technology "we no longer have a single and regulated system of radio services delivered over the public airwaves and free of charge to Canadians." Instead, two separate audio distribution networks have arisen over the past decade. Given that increased competition from outside the regulated broadcast environment, the CAB reiterated its now-year-old proposal to hold the line on Cancon at the current 35% minimum level for English-language stations and 65% on French-language ones, but with a bonus system that would see tracks by emerging Francophone artists receive a 150% bonus and tracks by English-speaking acts receive 125%. However, defining exactly what constituted an emerging artist proved tricky. The CAB suggested that artists who made it onto the top 40 all-format charts be considered emerging artists for 12 months after their listing. Pierre-Louis Smith, the CAB’s VP of radio, said that many broadcasters are hard-pressed to find enough Cancon to fill the current quota. However, commissioner Andrée Noël challenged that assertion, highlighting figures from l’Association Québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo that show 299 albums by Quebec-based French-language artists were released last year, but only 137 of those received airplay. Others appearing after the CAB had divergent views on the future direction of Cancon – and of what constitutes emerging musical talent. Not surprisingly, the various organizations representing music industry constituencies repeated their call for a hike in Cancon requirements, pointing to the CRTC’s recent five-year study of the radio industry’s profitability as proof that the Cancon regime wasn’t having a negative effect on earnings. In that report, the commission noted that in radio as a whole, profits before interest and taxes rose 23.8% in 2005 (CCR, May 5/06). Canadian Independent Record Production Association (CIRPA) president Cori Ferguson told commissioners that stations required by licence to play 40% Cancon don’t have any more breadth in their playlists than those mandated to play 35%. Since raising the minimum quotas for Cancon likely won’t increase diversity on playlists, she continued, the commission should consider mandating that 50% of all musical selections be from independent record producers. However, when pressed for a suggested definition of an emerging artist, Ferguson begged off and steered the topic back to independent record producers, not musicians. The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), came equipped with a definition for emerging artists. "What could be a clearer indication that a given artist is leaving the ranks of new and emerging than the achievement of gold status, and/or reaching the top 40 on the BDS all-format chart," asked CRIA president Graham Henderson, echoing the CAB’s response in part. In addition, Henderson expressed support for an increase of the Cancon minimum to 40%, but placated broadcasters with a bonus regime that would give stations an extra 25% credit for playing more emerging artists during peak listening hours, allowing them to fall back to 35% overall. "What we have now is a ‘dumb’ 35%, a quota that has been satisfied through the overplay of gold tracks," he said. Originally CRIA had proposed a 50% credit, but Henderson said that amount would allow broadcasters to fall back to 35% too easily, without airing an adequate amount of emerging-artist content. He also stressed the importance of the peak-hours requirement. "You don’t want to bonus somebody for playing something at a time when no one’s listening," he said. Friends of Canadian Broadcasting’s Ian Morrison, one of the most vociferous supporters of Cancon in the past, had harsh words for the CAB for its opposition to earlier Cancon increases in 1998. The broadcasters’ organization had put incredible pressure on the commission, he said, and that pressure was "intense, repugnant and entirely without merit." Morrison urged the commission to raise the daytime peak-hour Cancon requirement to 40%, with at least a quarter of that set aside for emerging artists. Gregg Terrence, a music entrepreneur whose letsfixcancon.ca website criticizes the CRTC for allowing broadcasters to satisfy Cancon requirements by airing established Canadian artists, adopted a surprisingly different tone than that of his website. "As the author of letsfixcancon.ca, which proposed a bonus system, it may come as a surprise to you that I am here advocating a quota," he said the room. However, he admitted, exchanging a quota-driven system for one based on bonuses would likely not lead radio stations to alter their playlists significantly. Instead, a simple quota dictating that 33% of daytime Cancon be devoted to emerging artists would be best, Terrence said. The Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) both drew the commission’s attention to language in section 3(1)(f) of the Broadcasting Act stating that broadcasters should "make no less than predominant use of Canadian creative" wherever possible. SAC president Stan Meissner argued that in order to adhere to the Act, broadcasters should be compelled to air at least 50% Cancon. Earl Rosen, president of SOCAN, reiterated the point in his presentation. "Parliament has stated that each broadcasting undertaking shall make maximum use, and in no case less than predominant use, of Canadian content," he said. "In other words, 51% requirement is the minimum level, not the maximum." He also noted that the Act stipulates a preponderance of Cancon wherever possible, but "the onus is on the broadcaster to establish that it is impossible in practice to use popular music radio programming that is predominantly Canadian." Aside from the CAB’s proposal, several individual broadcasters had their say and advanced their own ideas on reforming the Cancon regime. Astral Media Radio president Jacques Parisien reiterated his firm’s earlier proposal that French-language stations in bilingual markets such as Montreal and Ottawa-Gatineau be allowed to reduce their 65% daytime French-language Cancon requirement to 40%, in keeping with the commission’s policy of lower Cancon requirements for Canadian stations in border locations such as Windsor ON that face competition from American broadcasters. Meanwhile, Corus Entertainment, which has 51 stations across the country, proposed a novel approach to fulfilling Cancon requirements. Under Corus’ suggested market cluster policy, broadcasters with more than one station in a market would be allowed to share the 35% Cancon requirement between the stations, with no one station airing any less than 15% Cancon. Gary Maavara, VP and general counsel at Corus, said a market cluster approach would get "the same amount of Canadian content out to hopefully a lot more listeners."

Cancon quotas remain contentious issues in radio policy review

Broadcast | May 19, 2006

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Cancon quotas remain contentious issues in radio policy review

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