It’s little surprise that CBC playlist for Hamilton music will continue.
CBC Hamilton’s is focusing upon the local cultural scene and they’ve been running daily stories about the local music scene.
CBC’s online music service, CBC Music, is facing a CRTC hearing and what online listeners are playing could be a major determinate for the CRTC’s eventual ruling. If CBC Music users are primarily playing music commonly found on commercial radio, the argument the service is unfair taxpayer-funded competition will enjoy greater merit. Whereas, if users are using the service to listen to music never found on commercial radio, the CRTC will be hard-pressed to rule again CBC.
It’s for these reasons that it should be no surprise the playlist beat goes on.
CBC move brings it into competition with TheSpec’s Jamilton
There’s an interesting twist in this decision, it puts CBC directly into competition with a commercial enterprise offering independent music at no charge – Metroland’s (TheSpec parent company) Jamilton website.
Launched in 2006, Jamilton allows for local artists to upload their music, share information with their fans, includes editorial content and is the site of The Spectator’s yearly local bands competition.The Jamilton website has seen better days (it appears to be broken at present as it’s trying to direct data to spec.com instead of thespec.com) and doesn’t appear be receiving frequent updates.
It’s a good time for Hamilton artists
Could this example be used to advance the case against CBC Music? I’m no lawyer or CRTC expert, I cannot say.
There’s an inherent good of having more competition to provide exposure to independent artists. It’s a good time to be a Hamilton artist, especially with a national platform to perform on.
— JC —