Can. Con. Jazz to rise to 25% (from 10%)

[Allan Johnston]

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[Nou Dadoun]

I think this one caught a lot of people off guard, I certainly didn't expect it. I'm sort of interested in what people's opinions are on this, is this going to be a boon for lesser known Canadian Artists or is it just going to mean more Diana Krall, Holly Cole and Michael Bubblehead? (Is Elvis Costello a landed immigrant now?) Are radio stations going to be scrambling for Cellar Live releases or will they phase out their jazz shows? Do quotas work or do they encourage mediocrity?

For the record on the A-Trane I probably play pretty close to 25% Canadian Content as measured by the MAPL system (how canuck is MAPL anyway?); I include them as the last item on each line when I post my playlist. MAPL is Music, Artist, Production, Lyrics - a piece counts as Canadian Content when 2 or more are 'principally' Canadian.

And the big question: who gets to decide what jazz is anyway?

N.

[cweeds]

Im cautiously optimistic about this. It would be great to have an outlet for lesser known jazz types but for some reason I doubt that its going to happen. Maybe I shouldn't be so negative but I find it hard to believe that commercial radio stations are going to start playing the records of local jazz musicians. If they do it would be killing.

Hey perhaps Z95 or 103.5 will give Nou, Gavin and myself a late night slot!!!

[Gregg Simpson]

My only worry about this is that real jazz has such a small part of the market as compared to the platinum chanteuses and pop singers who now dominate the scene, that we'll be lucky to see any increase in our royalties.

I used to make thousands a year from royalties before the new regime took over in the mid-80s, but it's not even worth SOCAN's time to do the paperwork for most of the hard core jazz being made today.

Also the only station that pays royalties on original jazz compositions, Canadian and otherwise, is CBC. It's all about market share.

[Nou Dadoun]

Im cautiously optimistic about this. It would be great to have an outlet for lesser known jazz types but for some reason I doubt that its going to happen. Maybe I shouldn't be so negative but I find it hard to believe that commercial radio stations are going to start playing the records of local jazz musicians. If they do it would be killing.


My concern is exactly the opposite, that currently jazz and world music (perhaps late night) shows are pretty low maintenance. If they become too much trouble, they'll just get ditched. Granted most have been ditched already, Gary Barclay used to have a great overnight show on QM-FM and the CJAZ--> KISS transmogrification did have nighttime jazz but they're all history.

CBC covers the 25% cancon rules already, which stations are these changes really aimed at? ... N

[Gregg Simpson]

That's a good point Nou.

How many commercial stations are likely to include 25 percent of their airplay to Canadian music, let alone jazz. Odds are not many.

[John Doheny]

I seem to recall that when these regs came in back in 1970, the "beaver pile" (percentage of Canadian releases played) was 35%. Has this changed in recent years, or did that only apply to 'pop' music?

At the time, a lot of stations fulfilled that requirement by playing 35% Gordon Lightfoot and Guess Who records, but anyone who was around then should clearly be able to see that the difference to the Canadian pop music industry is like night and day. Meaning, in 1970, there wasn't one. How much of that can be credited to CRTC regs is difficult to say.

But if they're just now raising jazz requirents to 25% compared to pops 35, that really is pathetic.

[Nou Dadoun]

But if they're just now raising jazz requirents to 25% compared to pops 35, that really is pathetic.

That's exactly what they're doing but would it have changed anything back in the 70s? Will it change anything now?

Certainly more money was poured back into Canadian production facilities (the P in MAPL) and that was probably a boon to pop and jazz alike when you needed more than a sound card to make a reasonable recording but will it have any effect now?
N.