Bryan Adams speaks at the Departure Festival, in Toronto, on May 6.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Tuesday was the first day of the inaugural Departure music industry conference, formerly Canadian Music Week. One of the highlights was the appearance of Bryan Adams, in conversation with CHUM-FM personalities Josie Dye and Jamar McNeil. Told his new digital channel Bryan Adams Radio was doing well in Canada, the rock star seemed surprised.
“Well, CanCon,” he said, “it works, you know?”
Later, when conference delegates and media members were able to pose questions of their own, I asked Adams if I could quote him on that.
“Yeah, of course you can,” he replied. “But I am being facetious.”
So was I.
Adams’s well-known displeasure with Canadian content broadcast regulations goes back to 1991, when the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled his song (Everything I Do) I Do It For You did not qualify under CanCon regulations for preferential airplay in Canada.
Because the blockbuster ballad from the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was co-written with U.S. songwriters Michael Kamen and Robert John (Mutt) Lange, it was deemed not Canadian enough.
“The Canadian government should just take a step out of the music business entirely,” he said at the time.
Because of a new law that requires streaming services, as well as radio stations, to promote Canadian music, the subject is again current. Last year the Kingston-born hitmaker voiced his concern with the Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11), and he did so again at Departure.
“I don’t think it helps people when you are not allowed to be multicultural,” he said, referring to Canadian artists collaborating with non-Canadian artists. “If it says on your passport, ‘born in Canada,’ you’re CanCon.”
The audience applauded, but the reality is more complicated. For a song to be considered Canadian in the eyes of the CRTC depends in part on who wrote the lyrics and where it was recorded, not just on the citizenship of the performer.
It would nice if a full-blown debate on the topic was scheduled at Departure, which was rebranded and under new ownership. Typically, however, the onstage interviews and panel discussions are uncontentious.
Last year, the hot-button music story was the civil antitrust lawsuit brought by U.S. Department of Justice against Live Nation Entertainment Inc. over its ownership of both Ticketmaster and concert promoter Live Nation. But, during a moderated talk at the conference on live music, the topic never came up, even though Patti-Anne Tarlton, executive vice-president with Ticketmaster Global, was on stage fielding questions.
This year, right before the Adams chat, the president of touring for Live Nation Concerts, Omar Al-joulani, was interviewed by Joey Scoleri. He just happens to be the head of industry relations at Live Nation Canada. The questions were hardly hardballs.
Adams, dressed all in black, and at turns humble, thoughtful and revealing, was in promotion mode. He recently announced a mammoth North American tour that stops in 19 Canadian cities this fall. He also has a new studio album forthcoming, Roll With the Punches, the first released on his own independent record label.
After unbuttoning himself to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with his Bad Records logo, Adams talked about his failed attempt to renegotiate his contract when his deal with Universal Music expired after 2019’s Shine a Light album.
“The terms were so unreasonable that it just didn’t make any sense,” he said.
Attendees received a sneak preview of the video for new song Never Ever Let You Go. The visuals featured Adams riding a roller coaster with a friend of his, actress Elizabeth Hurley. When I complimented the singer on featuring a 59-year-old woman in a music video, he said she “looks a lot younger,” and that he was 65 himself.
“It’s gotta be real, man,” he said.
Earlier, CHUM-FM’s Dye said she assumed that Adams, after all these years, had a love-hate relationship with the feel-good song of the 1980s, Summer of ’69. Adams did not hesitate.
“Nope,” he said. “Just love.”
