In Defense of CANCON

So CBC has a piece on this morning about the growing importance of Canadian Indie music, and how little attention these new groups are getting from "official" sources such as the Junos or major radio chains. Fair enough - commerical radio never pays attention to the indies. But what motivated me to write is when the reporter started slagging the CANCON rules. His argument was that these indies aren't benefiting from this policy, ergo is doesn't matter. He quoted one musician (I forget from which band) who said that he thought CANCON rules prevented Canadian musicians from feeling confident in themselves.

This, frankly, is bullshit. Indies are never going to get the same treatment as commerical pop. CANCON isn't meant to protect them. What CANCON had done is strengthen and diversify the Canadian pop sector. We can debate the necessity or benefit of that, but CANCON's been an unqualified success in it's purposes.

If Canada didn't have CANCON rules, it would either a) have no representation in the global music industry (from which I would except the independents) or b) would need to invent an equivalent. Of course, it's not cultural protectionism that the indies object to, as later in the piece they mention that most of the hot new indy bands sustain themselves on.... federal grants. So it's just the protectionism that works for them, right?