 If you ever listen to the radio in Canada, you'll notice something strange. They play a lot of Canadian music, like a lot. Like one in three songs is by a Canadian artist, at least. And while I wish I could say that this was just fierce patriotism of my country, that's not actually the case. The real reason so many Canadian radio stations play acts from their motherland is because they're legally required to, thanks to regulations dating back to 1971. Let's take a closer look. The 1960s were an exciting time for radio. Rock and Roll was in the middle of a golden age, and FM Broadcasting was starting to get a foot in the mainstream. At the same time, portable radios were getting better in quality, and more and more young people were buying cars. And of course, this explosion was happening in Canada, too. But the music that young Canadians were blaring through their radios wasn't from their home country. Instead, Canadian radio stations focused mostly on the music scenes in the US and Great Britain. That was great for the listeners, because there was a lot of incredible music coming out of those scenes, but it wasn't quite as great for Canadian bands. In the mid-60s, acts like Gordon Lightfoot and the Guess Who were finding some success on the Canadian charts, but as we got deeper into the decade, we saw much less Canadian music. Only a few Canadian acts were really having success, and even those that were were doing so in the States. Neil Young was working with Buffalo Springfield, who were based out of Los Angeles, and made up of mostly Americans. Another Los Angeles band, Steppenwolf, had some better Canadian representation, with three out of five members being Canadian. But in 1968, Steppenwolf were the only Canadian band to top the Canadian charts, though they did it twice, with Born to be Wild, and Magic Carbon. That year marked an all-time low for Canadian music success. Only seven different Canadian songs cracked RPM's Canadian Top 40 that year, with only four even breaking the Top 10. Even more worrying was the fact that those seven songs were put out by just four different artists, Steppenwolf, the Irish Rovers, Andy Kim, and the Stampeders. It was quickly becoming clear that Canadian radio just wasn't interested in playing Canadian songs, which was posing a threat to the country's music industry as a whole. However, the same year that local chart success bottomed out, the Canadian government created the Canadian Radio, Television, and Telecommunications Commission, better known as the CRTC. That organization was charged with regulating broadcast and telecommunications, and one of their mandates was to help support more Canadian content. While there was an upswing in local music on Canadian radio in the following years, most of it was still acts that had found success in the States first, like Ann Murray and the Guess Who. The CRTC organized a public hearing process to investigate, and out of that came a system called the Maple System. That was created by Stan Cleese, who had just created the Juno Awards. And a quick aside for those of you who aren't Canadian, the Juno Awards are basically the Canadian Grammys. Kind of. The Maple System was a way of qualifying what counted as Canadian content. It consisted of four aspects. Music. The music was composed entirely by a Canadian. Artist. The music or lyrics were performed mostly by a Canadian. Performance. The performance was either recorded, performed, or broadcast in Canada. Lyrics. The lyrics were written entirely by a Canadian. In order to qualify as Canadian content, a piece needed to fulfill two of these conditions, or just one if it was recorded before January 1972. With the Maple System defined, the CRTC set up regulations. 25% of all airplay needed to be devoted to Canadian music. In the years since that quota has increased, with most contemporary radio stations getting licensed at 40% Canadian content. The results were immediate. In 1972, 57 different songs cracked RPM's Canadian Top 40, with three topping the charts. Even more promising, the 70s saw the growth of Canadian content based out of Canada. Bands like April Wine, Max Webster, and Trooper all found success on the Canadian airwaves throughout the 1970s. These regulations weren't without controversy, of course. Many people thought it was out of line for the government to step in and tell people what they should and shouldn't be listening to. Despite this, CanCon has continued to this day. And you can make a good argument that it's part of the reason Canada has been able to punch above its weight class on the musical scene. The 1980s saw Brian Adams become an international rock star, while the 90s created mega stars out of Canadians like Shania Twain, Celine Dion, and Alanis Morissette. And even today, Canadian music is bigger than ever. Names like Drake, The Weeknd, and Justin Bieber have consistently topped charts throughout the last decade. It's not just chart success either. Canadian bands like Arcade Fire have become critically acclaimed in the last decade. And outside of international success, Canadian content or CanCon spawned countless groups that have had local success. Some of the biggest of these include Blue Rodeo, Great Big C, and Sam Roberts, who are all huge in Canada. And of course, the best example of this is the tragically hip who became Canadian legends thanks to CanCon Airplay. CanCon is an important piece of Canada's musical history. It allowed Canadian artists to thrive and find a footing in the world, despite living in the shadow of the cultural giant that is the United States. Love it or hate it, CanCon did its job. And personally, I think Canada and the entire music world are better for it. And really, they just help me do everything that I do. If you want to support, you can go check out my Patreon at Patreon.com slash Polyphonic. And if you want to just keep in touch with me, follow me on Twitter at WatchPolyphonic. Thanks again so much for watching, liking, subscribing, and doing all of that great stuff. Oh, and if you want to celebrate Canada Day in style, check out my CanCon playlist. I've put together a video playlist of all of the video essays I've done on Canadian artists.