RadioAaron wrote:

It was wrong (and a mess) for the very first artist I looked up.

Toronto's The Beaches are listed interchangeably with and without "The", there are multiples entries for some of the songs, a handful that are 4/4 Cancon are listed as not Cancon, and their biggest hit "Edge of the Earth," which is currently charting on US CHR isn't listed at all.

Great start!
 

Funny, I was just about to note the same thing. I looked up two bands at random that I know to be CanCon and they weren't listed. One was Ocean, which had a huge hit with "Put Your Hand In The Hand" in 1972 and The Five Man Electrical Band (even trying the word Five and the number 5), who had a large number of hits on the Canadian charts. There are no signs of either one. (Ironically, "Signs" was the name of their debut hit.)

In fairness, though the CRTC did say it was a work in progress and that they'd be continuously adding songs. But yes, it's not a complete database by any means.  

No Ian Thomas, not even as Tranquillity Base.  And one of about 25 versions of Aquarius by The Fifth Dimension is listed as CanCon. It looks like it will be  a while.....

They haven't figured out the MAPL ratings.

Do they even know who Amy Sky is?
And there's only 10 entries in the folk and folk-oriented category.
There's a lot of songs and artists that would count, that category should have bin bigger.
Did they put the celtic music in the country, acoustic, or pop categories?
What a mes.

jon wrote:

CRTC just published a correction to their announcement: "The initial release includes a large selection of popular Canadian songs. New releases and older songs will be added regularly to the database including additional French, Indigenous, and third-language music. As part of the initial phase, the CRTC welcomes feedback from users to help improve the database and ensure it continues to meet the needs of broadcasters, artists, and the public."

Is there an email?
I have to use dictation on my phone to write it so I have perfect spelling.
Can anyone tell me the keyboard command for using dictations on a windows computer?

Bristol wrote:

So let's go to the "A"s ... ahh - The Archies - "Sugar Sugar" 499 entries all saying it is not CanCon. Don't tell Andy Kim!
+19,000 listings 1,600 songs , 600 artists ,,,,yawn.what a waste of time this is going to be when they can't get a song from half a century ago right.

 
I shouldn’t post after Midnight but those who are mentioning the rules of 1/4 CanCon for older songs are correct! The song is 1/4 CanCon as Andy Kim would get 1/2 of M and L.

Last edited by ThatEricAlper (November 8, 2026 12:27 am)

Paul Jeffries wrote:

ThatEricAlper wrote:

Bristol wrote:

So let's go to the "A"s ... ahh - The Archies - "Sugar Sugar" 499 entries all saying it is not CanCon. Don't tell Andy Kim!
+19,000 listings 1,600 songs , 600 artists ,,,,yawn.what a waste of time this is going to be when they can't get a song from half a century ago right.

 
It’s not CanCon. Andy Kim gets 1/2 of M and L. It was produced in LA and the A would be Rob Dante and a few others, so the song is 1/4 CanCon.

I thought that anything released before 1972 only had to meet 1/4 of the MAPL quota to be classified as CanCon?



PJ
 

I think you are correct. I seem to recall that and this is what I found when I googled:
The 4 MAPL Criteria (Only 1 Required Pre-1972)Pre-1972 recordings only need to satisfy one of the following elements to earn CanCon status: [1, 2]

• M (Music): Composed entirely by a Canadian.

• A (Artist): Performed principally by a Canadian.

• P (Performance): A live performance recorded or broadcast wholly in Canada.

• L (Lyrics): Written entirely by a Canadian lyricist. [1, 2]

Last edited by Fitz (November 7, 2026 5:15 am)

Andy Kim was considered a member of the Archies so a vague point for A and a Bryan Adams 1/2 point for L and another for M  ( yes Jeff Barry co-wrote) . So, an A  and half  each L & M = Cancon, All these years the song counted as CanCon even by the CRTC , Been through enough RAPs with it counting as such by staff..  Yes the pre 1972 one point will qualify is still in play.

Fitz wrote:

The edit function on the board was not working but I realized that Sugar had a co-writer. Jeff Barry but the song could still meet the criteria depending on the music/lyric split between the writers and I dont know how they determine that,

I think if there's only two writers on a song, it's probably assumed that both writers would be credited with a 50/50 split for both music and lyrics, even if one writer contributed more than half. I think it might be tricky to calculate a percentage point other than that (as in, how would you determine that someone only wrote 15% of the lyrics and the other person 85%?) Obviously, if there's more than two writers, that changes the whole equation.



PJ
 

Regardless of its early deficiencies, the Canadian Content database points out how crazy the rules about what counts as CanCon and what doesn't, really are. Corus' Alan Cross admits it can be confusing and believes this program should help. 

Now they just have to get it right. 

"Lenny Kravitz IS Canadian–as long as he’s playing his cover of The Guess Who’s “American Woman.” Why is this Manhattan-born singer officially and legally a Canadian for these four minutes and 22 seconds? Because the music and lyrics of “American Woman” were written by two Canadians: Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman.

It’s also why Eddie Vedder is a Canuck while singing “Hard Sun.” That’s a cover by an Ontario musician who worked under the name Indio. He wrote the music and lyrics, ergo it is Cancon even though it was re-recorded by an American in America using American musicians and released by an American record label on the soundtrack of a movie made in America starring Americans."

This is long overdue: An official CRTC database of songs that are legally and officially Canadian

Since I read the Alan Cross article yesterday, and he wrote about the MAPL designations on vinyl, I became curious as to how consistently that policy was followed by Record companies. I posted the copies of the 45's above and they all apparently have it as does the Grapes of Wrath album from 1987. 

Today I looked at one Canadian artist Neil Young. I'm pretty sure I have all of his albums from 1972 to 1982. The MAPL  was not  on the records prior to 1977 ( and there were maybe 5) I think.

Actually I am missing one NY from that period and that is his film soundtrack Journey Through the Past and that has tracks by NY solo, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young and The Beach Boys. I am sure there are other similar titles with varying degrees of MAPL content. How would one designate that. I guess you could not.

Journey has everything from 3/4 MAPL to half MAPL to no MAPL at all. Unless the Aunt Jemima jar was too close for comfort. 

I can see how keeping up with the requirement might have been a headache. I always knew that the designation  existed but had not really paid attention until the topic came up.



 

Last edited by Fitz (November 10, 2026 1:23 pm)

paterson1 wrote:

My understanding was that the MAPL logo on records to signify cancon wasn't a requirement at all.  Most labels would have it on to help radio stations know if a song was Canadian content, but for whatever reason some didn't, or it was spotty.  But I don't think at any time it actually had to be on the record because of a requirement or regulation. I had/have lots of albums that are cancon but have no MAPL logo in either the liner notes or on the label.  Some singles as well. 

Peterson I have a feeling that if you look at records post 1977/78 the majority may have the MAPL logo. Is a bit of a pain going through records ( especially 45's) to check and really not worth the effort at this late date but I was curious. Anyway I looked at two Bruce Cockburn albums pre and post 1977. Joy Will Find  a Way ( 1975) did not have the logo and The Further Adventures... ( 1977) did.

Plus a Cowboy Junkies album answered my question about a track by track breakdown of MAPLICITY on one album. Have a look below . They used a different format for side A vs side B:

What else did this exercise enlighten me on. The Aunt Jemima name has been discontinued on  the maple syrup brand since 2021 but there they do continue the legacy by indicating "Same great taste as Aunt Jemima."



 

Last edited by Fitz (November 10, 2026 7:31 pm)

paterson1 wrote:

Kazzer

 

Brave of you to admit you have that haha.

paterson1 you are undoubtedly correct in your assertion that the MAPL logo was NOT a legal requirement but what I found on my rather limited survey was that vinyl LP's post 1977 had the logo. 45's were early adopters and went back to at east 1972.

One surprising can con single I found was the Kingbees My Mistake. Had 1/2 a MAPL.

Found one interesting label. Anyone want to have a guess as to what this is :

Last edited by Fitz (Yesterday 8:05 am)