The CBC Needs a Budget Cut

What I am about to do will work much better if you are a fan of a genera of music where the performers write their own material. If you mainly listen to country or pop, this may not have the same impact.

Think about some of your favourite bands. The one you will go see in an arena. The one that has been making albums for a long time. As you are sitting with your friends having a pre-concert beverage of choice, inevitably someone will say, "I hope they play lots of old stuff." 

Now don't get me wrong, we like the new album, there is probably one song that we are really into but we don't know it word for word, note for note like the old stuff. The new stuff may actually be a better made song but the old stuff is just better.

Why?

The band wasn't comfortable when they made the old stuff. They didn't have vast resources.  They had just enough so they were not starving and it drove creativity. They had to be good and they had to do it quickly. Studio time was at a premium. They probably had to play some gigs while they made the album to pay the bills. There was an edge to life, a feeling of us against the world and it made them be better. Once they were well established and had steady revenue from the back catalogue they still cared about making good music but they were not driven the same way.

What does a band starting out have to do with the CBC budget?

In a short answer, everything. The CBC is subsidized and if they do not produce compelling content, they can fall back on the government to pay the bills. They are not driven to create new, original, memorable, or groundbreaking content. 

The good stuff comes from anyone when they feel like they are up against the wall. Apple almost went bankrupt and rethought who they were and what they do. They were desperate but found a way. The CBC needs to be desperate. They need that feeling that we have nothing left to lose so we may as well do something crazy. Because when the crazy starts, that's when the amazing happens.

The CBC used to do a lot of things very well. They are still pretty good at news gathering but CBC Sports is a shell of it's former self and their entertainment programming doesn't make you want to watch.

If the CBC feels the public has turned on them and they have to do better they will. Big budgets don't make great content, great thought and execution does and a little stress in their future will do a lot to bring that out.