Harper's next victim...CRTC

[bloodyminded]

No one outside of Economics 101 (including economists themselves) believe that something as beautifully, perfectly simple as "supply and demand" is not actually a profoundly complex matter.

[M.Dancer]

Correct. Media Coporations do not represent the public's interests, they cater to them.

They cater to their customers' (and shareholders') interests, which is not exactly the same thing.

Actually it is unless the shareholders have a profit death wish. For networks to make money they need advertising. To sell advertising they need the viewing public. To attract the viewing they need to cater to the viewing publics interests.

[Wild Bill]

In other words, even if no one actually watches Canadian content (and at the best times most Canadians prefer to watch American programming), just so long as electrons paid at multiple points by taxpayers/consumers regardless of actual consumption are being beamed out, somehow Canada is being preserved.

It's FAR worse than you think, TB! Like most government solutions, it has evolved to where it is doing exactly the OPPOSITE of the original intentions!

Here's a link from a group set up by a man with years of experience with the radio ratings people:

http://www.letsfixcancon.ca/

"Frankly, Avril Lavigne doesn't need government legislation to receive radio airplay in Canada or anywhere else in the world. The songs of Sarah McLachlan, Nickelback and Celine Dion are heard in many countries around the world and will be played on our airwaves regardless of their nationalities. They are fully developed artists and are profitable, sustainable entities. In short, they've made it.

Canadians are proud of our international stars, yet surely, the point of creating CANCON (forcing radio stations to play more Canadian music) was not to merely pad the airplay of international superstars and the profits of U.S. based record companies.

CANCON was constructed around a sound idea. More radio play for homegrown artists would mean more musicians, more instrument sales, more rehearsal spaces, more recording studios, more managers, more promoters, more labels, more record stores, more fans of Canadian music, etc...

When Shania Twain gets a spin on Canadian radio today, it does none of the above. CANCON's current formulas are undercutting the very foundation on which it was created."

Artists like Rush and the Guess Who actually became successful BEFORE CANCON was even created! The problem today is that radio stations get zero extra credit for playing songs by an "up and coming" Canadian artist. Much easier and safer to keep playing the same old hits by the same old "geezer" Canadian artists. Their royalties can buy their Geritol. The "new" artists ironically are in the same position as bands before CANCON - they have to make it on their own to become stars in the American market before they can get on Canadian playlists.

If anyone is truly interested in the Canadian music scene I suggest they read my link thoroughly. It's a real eye-opener! All CANCON has ever done is put Sheila Copps in a position where she can go to the JUNOS and have throngs of wannabes kiss her ass in hopes of a grant!

[ToadBrother]

Artists like Rush and the Guess Who actually became successful BEFORE CANCON was even created! The problem today is that radio stations get zero extra credit for playing songs by an "up and coming" Canadian artist. Much easier and safer to keep playing the same old hits by the same old "geezer" Canadian artists. Their royalties can buy their Geritol. The "new" artists ironically are in the same position as bands before CANCON - they have to make it on their own to become stars in the American market before they can get on Canadian playlists.

If anyone is truly interested in the Canadian music scene I suggest they read my link thoroughly. It's a real eye-opener! All CANCON has ever done is put Sheila Copps in a position where she can go to the JUNOS and have throngs of wannabes kiss her ass in hopes of a grant!

The fundamental rules of the game haven't changed in nearly fifty years. If you want to make it big as a recording artist, you've got to break into the American and European markets... period. In the Sixties, in fact, it was pretty much the American market because Europe didn't have a lot of the really big venues, and you had to head to the US to fill stadiums and arenas. But by the 70s, Europe had caught up. Rush made it because they got big in the US, Europe, and then a little later in Latin America.

What I find odd about the whole thing is that while the CRTC's defenders here cry the blues about small Canadian acts breaking out, in reality, that's the fate for most musical acts the world over. The United States created a whole Indy record industry that was tailored precisely to these regional bands. A lot of smaller regional Canadian acts have tapped into that, too. It has actually worked very well, far better than government subsidies and forcing CANCON rules down radio stations' throats. Since the 1980s there have been a lot of bands that have worked their way up from the Indy scene into the mainstream, and generally speaking the Indy scene is a helluva lot more interesting than big label music.

Down in the States there are no content rules. What it takes is some entrepreneurial spirit. Sam Phillips had it, and the Sun label produced early work for some pretty big acts; Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis all got their start on what amounted to a small regional Indy label.

Canada certainly had a music industry before CANCON. There were all sorts of hot spots; southern Ontario, Winnipeg, Vancouver. Yeah, most of the artists didn't sell more than a few thousand records, but so what? Most bands wherever they are don't sell more than a few thousand records. And I'd argue that now that YouTube seems to have become a major source of band exposure, that CANCON is well and truly becoming irrelevant, though it doesn't seem to stop some around here pondering ways that the government can start pushing around the Internet to make sure the Guess Who and Bryan Adams get their fair share of airplay.

[Evening Star]

Wild Bill, the site you are linking does not contradict anything I've said. I am extremely familiar with it. I strongly agree with Indie Pool's "Let's Fix Cancon" proposal (and might start interning with them in a couple weeks.) They are not advocating scrapping Cancon at all. If anything, they are advocating more, or at least more nuanced, regulation, as they explain in greater detail if you click on "The Fix":

Our plan is called CANCON Pro, for progressive.

We are proposing that CANCON remains at today's CRTC's target level of 40% and that radio stations receive incentives, called CANCON CREDITS, for promoting Canadian artist development.

• When a radio station plays a Canadian International Artist, like Alanis Morissette or Celine Dion for example, they will be credited for playing 0.75 CANCON song. This credit is slightly reduced from its current value of 1.

• When a radio station plays a Canadian Established Artist, like Blue Rodeo or The Tragically Hip, they will be credited for playing 1.00 CANCON song. Established artists will remain at today's standard CANCON credit.

• When a radio station plays a Canadian National Artist, like Kathleen Edwards or The Arcade Fire, that are signed but have yet to make lasting impression on the Canadian public, that station will be credited with playing 1.25 CANCON song.

• When a radio station plays a Canadian Developing Artist, otherwise known as unsigned or independent, that station would be credited with playing 1.50 CANCON song.

They want to preserve the MAPL system.

Furthermore, if you continue reading what's on "The Problem" page after the section that you quote, you will find that they completely agree with my take, and the conventional wisdom, on Cancon history:

First of all it needs to be said, the need for Let's Fix CANCON only exists because CANCON was once integral in creating a robust Canadian star system. We honour CANCON's history and its pioneers.

Our hypothesis is that thanks to the visionaries like Walt Grealis and Stan Klees, forward thinkers at the CRTC, Canadian Heritage, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters among others, we have a problem that other countries envy; we have too many Canadian stars filling up our CANCON!

CANCON was created in the early seventies, a time when most Canadian artists could be considered developing artists. Canada had very few bona fide international stars to speak of, therefore all CANCON airplay was successfully developing Canadian talent somehow, somewhere. There was no need to distinguish developing artists from international megastars.

Then, CANCON worked and assisted in developing Canadian artists.

That is, Cancon is a victim of its success:

Today's downside is, as all Canadian radio listeners know, that nearly all CANCON today is the oft repeated airplay of already-developed artists. Today, those who need CANCON rules the least, receive the most.

Artists like Rush and the Guess Who actually became successful BEFORE CANCON was even created!

This is blatantly false on chronological grounds. Cancon was introduced in 1970. Rush's first album was released in 1975. "American Woman" was released in 1970, admittedly shortly after the regulations were introduced. It's possible that that is coincidental. However, the majority of the Guess Who's career was definitely in the post-Cancon era.

Bloodyminded, my explanation of the economics was probably simplistic but there is almost no dispute (except maybe on this thread) that Canadian music and Canadian studios became more prominent after 1970. Correlation might not prove causation but I haven't heard another strong explanation for this.

[bloodyminded]

Bloodyminded, my explanation of the economics was probably simplistic but there is almost no dispute (except maybe on this thread) that Canadian music and Canadian studios became more prominent after 1970. Correlation might not prove causation but I haven't heard another strong explanation for this.

Yeah, I didn't find your point on this unreasonable. I was responding to another poster; I should have used the Quote function.

[Wild Bill]

Wild Bill, the site you are linking does not contradict anything I've said. I am extremely familiar with it. I strongly agree with Indie Pool's "Let's Fix Cancon" proposal (and might start interning with them in a couple weeks.) They are not advocating scrapping Cancon at all. If anything, they are advocating more, or at least more nuanced, regulation, as they explain in greater detail if you click on "The Fix":

<snip>

This is blatantly false on chronological grounds. Cancon was introduced in 1970. Rush's first album was released in 1975. "American Woman" was released in 1970, admittedly shortly after the regulations were introduced. It's possible that that is coincidental. However, the majority of the Guess Who's career was definitely in the post-Cancon era.

I was hoping someone would go that far in the site! I agree with their proposals as well! Nice to find a kindred soul!

As for being wrong on the Rush chronology, what can I say? Those were hazy times for this old hippy!

Actually, Rush played our high School around 1968 or 1969. They were terrible! Great music but horrible production! They had already gotten a reputation of being a poor live band. Obviously, they more than corrected that failing!

I make my living fixing and building amplifiers for musicians. It breaks my heart to see how difficult it is for young folks starting out to make any income from their music. CANCON essentially ignores them in favour of "classic rock" stations playing the same old hits from artists that have long since moved beyond needing the exposure.

A local AM station of all things deserves credit for bucking the trend! They run a show late Friday afternoon and early evening as a remote from a local blues club, featuring local artists. God bless them and all their sponsors! They're not just fighting the CANCON failings. Fewer young people are tuning in radio at all! An entire generation is growing up that never, ever tunes to AM or FM! They have never TOUCHED a CD, let alone bought one! Yet their digital players contain huge libraries and they constantly listen to them.

If radio doesn't find a way to attract this audience back then CANCON will indeed become a moot point! There will be no radio for the CRTC to administrate!

[jefferiah]

I don't believe that protection of a national identity and a national industry is moronic. I suppose we now know where you stand on such issues.

Much of this Canadian content is not only unsuccessful because it does not fair well in other countries. Much of it does not sell well here. We are not watching it. And if Canadians in general do not like it why are we paying for it? How does it reflect our culture if we do not like it? If it has to be forced then it is some CRTC ideal of what our culture is, not the culture itself. Culture does not need protecting. It is what it is.

Edited August 26, 2010 by jefferiah

[Smallc]

Much of this Canadian content is not only unsuccessful because it does not fair well in other countries. Much of it does not sell well here.

Much of it in fact does sell well here...except for TV (which is turning around, to an extent).

[bush_cheney2004]

...How does it reflect our culture if we do not like it? If it has to be forced then it is some CRTC ideal of what our culture is, not the culture itself. Culture does not need protecting. It is what it is.

This is an interesting observation, with one possible rejoinder being that CRTC (i.e. government) intervention is very much part of Canadian culture.

[ToadBrother]

This is an interesting observation, with one possible rejoinder being that CRTC (i.e. government) intervention is very much part of Canadian culture.

Well, certainly if you think Canadian culture begins and ends in Toronto. Elsewhere not so simple. Since the music industry seems to be a big part of the equation, let's look at the bustling music scene in Vancouver, which radiates all over Western Canada and down into the States. Damned few of these guys get radio play, most of their albums are self-made, their CDs made on demand. Despite all the shortcomings of the big labels not giving a crap, these guys do not too badly. Some make enough to pay the bills and be full time performers. CANCON has absolutely nothing to do with these artists, because they don't really hit the airwaves, except for the Internet, which the CRTC has explicitly declared it won't be regulating.

YouTube and online sales have probably done more for the Indie scene in Canada and the US than all the regulatory rules one could imagine. Though he's no newcomer, one of my favorite artists; Robert Fripp, has an incredible website that you can download his solo and King Crimson material on, including all kinds of live performances, as well as albums.

What's happened is that technology, and entrepreneurial spirit (as in the artist gets it through his head that he's a business, and not a wallet into which the government dumps money into) has done what CANCON never could, and that is get new artists out there. YouTube has done more for small-time bands in five years than a generation of CANCON rules ever could.

[jefferiah]

YouTube and online sales have probably done more for the Indie scene in Canada and the US than all the regulatory rules one could imagine. Though he's no newcomer, one of my favorite artists; Robert Fripp, has an incredible website that you can download his solo and King Crimson material on, including all kinds of live performances, as well as albums.

Excellent point. These guys might not be making it big, but no one is telling you you must consume their art and thus they probably have a bigger fanbase than those who are Canadian filler.

In an episode of Family Guy, Peter Griffin mentions that he does not like a certain movie. I think it was the Godfather. The other characters chime in with "How can you not like the Godfather?" To which he replies that the movie insists upon itself. I have no idea what that was supposed to mean, but those very words come to mind when I think of the Canadian content the CRTC supports. It insists upon being Canadian. It does so to a point that it is not Canadian at all, and alienates the general public. Most of us find it kind of lame. Attempts to engineer some sort of Canadian culture result in some kind of need to create a constant awareness of Canada throughout. Americans do not need to try to be American. And they don't. They just make their art. It is not in contrast to anything else. In Canada, the CRTC ideal ultimately ends up in trying to contrast ourselves from America. Instead of just being Canadian (whatever that is), the goal becomes not being American.

We don't have to try to be Canadian. We are. Let that be, and what results from that is what Canadian culture is. Trying to manufacture a culture is the death of culture itself.

Edited August 26, 2010 by jefferiah

[M.Dancer]

Actually, Rush played our high School around 1968 or 1969. They were terrible! Great music but horrible production! They had already gotten a reputation of being a poor live band. Obviously, they more than corrected that failing!

They played mine around 73. I can't recall how they sounded other than loud. I have never been a fan of Rush.

[bloodyminded]

I'm inclined to agree with Toadbrother, Wild Bill, Jefferiah, et al. The "need" for government regulation and encouragement of "culture" is actually downright bizaare, the more you think on it.

What matters is what people want to listen to, to watch, to read. If there is some concern about the "infection" of American popular culture, I'd respond with a couple of points:

1. It's too late. Get over it.

2. There is nothing wrong with American popular culture; or rather, there's nothing wrong with it that can't be matched in awfulness by Canadian popular culture, easily. I always enjoyed "Corner Gas," but it's hardly a unique or groundbreaking program. It's a child of the American sitcom, in fact.

All this relates to

3. No one "owns" culture anyway; thanks to communications, arts and entertainment crosses borders and boundaries with scarcely a blip in the universe. If you like some piece of music or tv show or movie or book...well, that point answers itself, as far as I'm concerned.

If people are genuinely worried about somehow being swallowed up by the southern Power, they should focus on political matters, not "cultural" ones.

[ToadBrother]

If people are genuinely worried about somehow being swallowed up by the southern Power, they should focus on political matters, not "cultural" ones.

If that's the worry, it happened years ago. Look at Canadian pop music. There's very little of it that I would consider "indigenous". Like I said in another post, a 12 bar blues progression is a 12 bar blues progression, whether it's being played by Colin James, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

But frankly I think the whole notion of American cultural influence is in itself an oversimplification. In a way, it wasn't as if there was an American and Canadian marketplace. You had actors, musicians, writers and production guys moving across the border. If you throw in the UK it gets even more complicated.

This has nothing to do with cultural preservation and everything to do with arbitrary rules set up by Federally-funded and empowered cultural potentates. If the E string is bent north of the 49th or south of it doesn't interest me at all. What counts is the quality of the music. Same goes for TV and movies. I'm a huge fan of Trailer Park Boys, not because it's Canadian, but because it's good comedy. I really don't give a crap about preserving "Canadian" content, I give a crap about being entertained when I want to be entertained, or informed when I want to be informed. I don't need, or even want a committee sitting in frickin' Ottawa trying to force this stuff down my throat.

[Evening Star]

Ha, it's cool, Wild Bill. From the tone of your first post, I thought you were agreeing with the anti-regulation stance.

YouTube and online sales have probably done more for the Indie scene in Canada and the US than all the regulatory rules one could imagine. Though he's no newcomer, one of my favorite artists; Robert Fripp, has an incredible website that you can download his solo and King Crimson material on, including all kinds of live performances, as well as albums.

You know, I actually agree with this. (And as my screen name indicates, I am also a Fripp fan.) CanCon makes sense for a medium like radio, where, due to bandwidth limitations, there could only ever be so many stations in a market. The Internet is tremendously empowering and liberating and I don't think we need content regulations for the infinite range of possibilities it offers us. In the online age, grants such as those that the Canada Council offers (and that SSHRC used to) are probably the best way for the government to support and encourage Canadian artists. Promotional websites such as Terminus1525 are also very helpful. And these do help a much wider range of artists, not just the most radio-friendly ones.

Jefferiah, I'm sorry but I just think you're wrong. Canadian popular music has been hugely popular, if not dominant, internationally for some time now. (One needs only to consider the success of Shania Twain, Alanis Morrissette - those two had two of the best-selling albums of the 90s worldwide, k.d. lang, Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, Justin Bieber, ...) I gave examples of prominent studios as well. I could provide numbers if you want them.

Now, to be clear, I'm not saying that I actually think all of these artists make great music imo or that their music is distinctively Canadian. Cancon has not necessarily been especially successful at developing or promoting uniquely Canadian artistic styles (and I'm not sure that was ever the goal). It has been successful at promoting a Canadian industry and making it easier for more cultural activity to take place in Canada. I think this is worthwhile. Some of you clearly don't see anything wrong with artists needing to move to or record in the US or UK. (Not saying they never do now, just that they are not obliged to in the same way now.) If anything, IMO the most innovative or distinctive styles in Canadian music - avant-garde Quebec metal, say, or the post-rock and minimal electronic music in Montreal; Inuit throat singing even ... - are probably those that don't get mainstream radio play, although they do benefit from cultural subsidies.

[jefferiah]

Jefferiah, I'm sorry but I just think you're wrong. Canadian popular music has been hugely popular, if not dominant, internationally for some time now. (One needs only to consider the success of Shania Twain, Alanis Morrissette - those two had two of the best-selling albums of the 90s worldwide, k.d. lang, Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, Justin Bieber, ...) I gave examples of prominent studios as well. I could provide numbers if you want them.

I am not slamming Canadian artists though. I realize Canada has a pretty good music scene. Radio and television do not need to be urged to play artists that people want to hear anyways.

I wasn't talking specifically about music, either.

Edited August 28, 2010 by jefferiah

[Evening Star]

Cool, fair enough.

[waldo]

Harper wants the Fox-North to happen so badly that he is now trying to bribe the chair to leave. Chairman Konard Von Finkenstein contract doesn't end until 2012, but, Harper is bribing him with judgeships and ambassadorships, but, Konard is not biting as yet. Who does he want in this place?? Well, of course, the right-hand man to Fox-NorthPierre Karl Peladeau, Luc Lavoie. Can you imagine what Harper do to this country if he had a majority power? Thank God he doesn't but this guy needs to go before he does any more damage to this country. The power of the PMO, has gone to his head and he did say he had mental health issues in his family and I think he has them too. Power to the people let get rid of Harper! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/lawrence-martin/is-stephen-harper-set-to-move-against-the-crtc/article1677632/

now... before this OP got diverted by the 'dump the CRTC' brigade... just who will Fearless Leader appoint this week as the new vice-chair?

Incremental Fearless Leader

Back on March 30, 2009, Harper had a private lunch in New York with News Corp. chair Rupert Murdoch, the most powerful figure in the U.S. media today, and with Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, the relentlessly right-wing cable network that is owned by News Corp. With them at lunch was Kory Teneycke, then Harper’s communications director.

The fact of the lunch has never been revealed by the PMO; Canadian Press found out through disclosures filed with the U.S. Justice Department in Washington. The subjects discussed have not been made public, although it seems clear that they included what would be involved in establishing a Fox-like network to service the Canadian right.

Four months after the New York lunch, Teneycke left the PMO to work for Pierre Karl Péladeau at Quebecor, which owns Sun Media. Péladeau put Teneycke in charge of all of Sun Media’s political coverage, newspaper and broadcast. Six months after that, Péladeau announced plans to launch a new network, Sun TV News — which other media immediately dubbed Fox News North.

The only fly in the Harper/Murdoch/Péladeau ointment is the CRTC. The regulatory commission is refusing to issue a Category 1 licence, which would require cable companies to carry Sun TV News.

The word in Ottawa is that the prime minister is not amused. He is said to want CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein replaced before his term expires in 2012. Before that, however, Harper will get to name a new vice-chair to replace Michel Arpin whose term ends next week.

The name at the top of the list to succeed Arpin is Luc Lavoie, former spokesperson/apologist for Brian Mulroney and former executive vice-president at Quebecor.

If Harper gets his way with the CRTC, he could soon have his hands around the throat of Canadian broadcasting.

[Jack Weber]

now... before this OP got diverted by the 'dump the CRTC' brigade... just who will Fearless Leader appoint this week as the new vice-chair?

Incremental Fearless Leader

Shocker of shockers that the PM is involved somewhere...

And of it's not going to be like Fox News (I've heared the apologists claim this here),why the meeting with Murdoch and Ailes?

[wyly]

Well, certainly if you think Canadian culture begins and ends in Toronto. Elsewhere not so simple. Since the music industry seems to be a big part of the equation, let's look at the bustling music scene in Vancouver, which radiates all over Western Canada and down into the States. Damned few of these guys get radio play, most of their albums are self-made, their CDs made on demand. Despite all the shortcomings of the big labels not giving a crap, these guys do not too badly. Some make enough to pay the bills and be full time performers. CANCON has absolutely nothing to do with these artists, because they don't really hit the airwaves, except for the Internet, which the CRTC has explicitly declared it won't be regulating.

YouTube and online sales have probably done more for the Indie scene in Canada and the US than all the regulatory rules one could imagine. Though he's no newcomer, one of my favorite artists; Robert Fripp, has an incredible website that you can download his solo and King Crimson material on, including all kinds of live performances, as well as albums.

What's happened is that technology, and entrepreneurial spirit (as in the artist gets it through his head that he's a business, and not a wallet into which the government dumps money into) has done what CANCON never could, and that is get new artists out there. YouTube has done more for small-time bands in five years than a generation of CANCON rules ever could.

Cancon was the saviour of made in Canada music when it was introduced, US record labels dominated the music scene getting airplay for Canadian artists was extremely difficult at that time...payola was a fact of life a musician/s without a major label backing $$$ them got few chances to promote their music...

the openness and availability of the interent has broken the hold large music producers have over the industry... musicians with a little bit of internet smarts can get their music out there without the industry giants assistance/dominance...I wouldn't want to see cancon rules done away with just yet it's still a useful tool for promoting canadian talent...

[Wild Bill]

I wouldn't want to see cancon rules done away with just yet it's still a useful tool for promoting canadian talent...

You must have tuned in late! Perhaps you might check my msg 178 in this thread and also checkout this link:

http://www.letsfixcancon.ca

You see, CANCON hasn't promoted new Canadian talent for years! Virtually NO new artists get airplay unless and until they have become successful in the States! Meanwhile, the Canadian content is filled by endless reruns of old Rush, Lightfoot and Neil Young material. New artists are ignored.

This is not opinion, it's fact! Talk to new artists! Listen to some radio yourself! The situation is blatantly obvious!

"Useful tool"? Hardly!

[wyly]

You must have tuned in late! Perhaps you might check my msg 178 in this thread and also checkout this link:

http://www.letsfixcancon.ca

You see, CANCON hasn't promoted new Canadian talent for years! Virtually NO new artists get airplay unless and until they have become successful in the States! Meanwhile, the Canadian content is filled by endless reruns of old Rush, Lightfoot and Neil Young material. New artists are ignored.

This is not opinion, it's fact! Talk to new artists! Listen to some radio yourself! The situation is blatantly obvious!

"Useful tool"? Hardly!

I'm annoyed with hearing the old stuff being replayed over and over too but to say new canadian talent never gets air play without first getting airplay in the US is a gross exaggeration...talking to new artists is useless as they will always find something to blame their lack of success on, if what you say is true then they should have no problem getting airplay in the US if they're that good...

[bush_cheney2004]

..... if what you say is true then they should have no problem getting airplay in the US if they're that good...

Hey, even the old stuff is still getting play in the USA.....Rush played the Minnesota State Fair last week! Right next to fried cheese curds and Machinery Hill. Oink...oink!

http://www.mnstatefair.org/_assets/img/photos/lightboxes/lb_rush.jpg

[ToadBrother]

Hey, even the old stuff is still getting play in the USA.....Rush played the Minnesota State Fair last week! Right next to fried cheese curds and Machinery Hill. Oink...oink!

http://www.mnstatefair.org/_assets/img/photos/lightboxes/lb_rush.jpg

Rush was just another hard rock band from Ontario until Kiss picked them as an opening act. They made their bones in the States, and then Europe. Canada, by far, makes the smallest share of their fanbase. There are probably more fans in South America now than in Canada.

I'll stand by what I said. If you don't make it in the US and Europe, you're just another regional act. You want the big bucks, you need to get signed up by a major American and European label. That's what made Rush a 40 million+ record seller, not CANCON. In fact, judging by your standard FM classic rock radio up here in Canada, you wouldn't know they released an album after 1982.

Edited August 31, 2010 by ToadBrother