The Music of Emerging Canadian Artist on Commercial French-language Radio

Radio Policy,
Broadcasting Directorate

4/14/2011

Background

In Call for comments on the definition of emerging artists on commercial radio, Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2008-16, 27 February 2008, the Commission announced that it would adopt definitions of emerging artists appropriate to French- and English-language talent, and invited suggestions for such definitions. The results of this process are published in Definition of emerging Canadian artists on commercial radio, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2011-316, also issued today.

To assist the Commission in making its decision regarding the definition of Canadian French-language emerging artists, Commission staff undertook a study of the amount of such artists’ music played on French-language commercial radio in relation to two emerging artists definitions.

Methodology

Definition A – Suggested by the Association québeçoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters:

A Canadian French-language artist shall be considered an emerging artist until one of the following thresholds has been reached:

• A period of six (6) months has elapsed since sales of one of the artist’s albums have reached Gold Record status according to SoundScan;1
• A period of forty-eight (48) months has elapsed since the release of the artist’s first commercially marketed album.

For the purposes of this definition, the concept of artist includes duos, trios or groups of artists operating under a defined identity. If a member of a duo, trio or group begins a solo career or creates with other partners a new duo, trio or group with a new defined identity, the solo artist or duo, trio or group shall be considered an “emerging artist” according to the above criteria.

Definition B – Suggested by Commission staff:

• A Canadian French-language emerging artist is an artist who has never had two recordings that have reached either the Top 30 position on the music charts listed in Schedule C or the Top 25 position on the music charts listed in Schedule D.
• Once an artist has had two recordings that have reached either the Top 30 position on the music charts listed in Schedule C or the Top 25 position on the music charts listed in Schedule D, the artist retains emerging status for a period of 12 months following the date on which the second recording reached either of those positions.

Schedule C: Le Palmarès Top 100 Radio BDS Francophone, Top 50 Radio Francophone.

Schedule D: Le Palmarès Tops 25 Radio BDS Francophone Pop Rock, Tops 25 Radio BDS Francophone Pop Adulte, Tops 25 Radio Francophone Pop Rock or the Tops 25 Radio Francophone Pop Adulte

The stations included in the study were operating in formats that play at least some current music. Stations that were ruled out include, among others, those describing themselves as “Souvenirs garantis” or “Succès retro.” The 2008 BBM Radio Survey Guides were used to verify the station formats.

Playlists were obtained from Mediabase relating to 13 specific weeks during 2008. The weeks selected were spaced 4 weeks apart from January to December.

A database was assembled based on the two definitions above.2 Definition A entailed the compilation of French-language artists’ names in the “Nouveautés” section of the issues of Le Palmarès published since 1995. Definition B required the compilation of all of the information on French-language artists from the charts in Le Palmarès that are specified in the definition.

Results

Observations

• There are fewer formats offering current music in French Canada than in English Canada.
• The amounts of emerging music found by the definitions are very similar, except for the Modern/Alternative Rock format. In 2008 there was only one French-language station operating in this format.
• In the Mainstream Top 40/ CHR format, about one French-language selection in four features the music of a Canadian emerging artist.
• Please see Regulatory Policy CRTC 2011-316 for the implications of this research.

1 CD or digital recordings receive gold certifications with sales of 40,000 units.

2 With the assistance of Itplanit Services Corp.

Date modified:

2011-05-12