Cam Gordon unpacks what happened behind the scenes in his new book, Track Changes: The Origin Story of Canadian Music on the Internet (1990-2010). It’s filled with in-depth research and rare insider stories.
The book feels like a major throwback to Western’s MIT program, which stands for Media, Information and Technoculture. It captures how everything is intertwined! MuchMusic was everything growing up and Track Changes explores what industry leaders struggled with at record labels, radio stations and beyond.
Cam Gordon hosted a unique book launch event at Handlebar in Toronto. He organized two short panels with industry experts, including Alan Cross, Elana Schachter, Tara Deschamps and Frank Yang. Like a true communications executive, he wouldn’t settle for a basic event.
I was one of the youngest in the crowd, but fit right in. Spotify says my listening age is 46 because I love 90s music by Shania Twain and Bryan Adams.
Cam Gordon has held senior roles at Rogers, Twitter and major PR agencies, so I’m excited to share his insights!
The Industry
Of all the digital firsts in the Canadian music industry, what is the most impressive achievement?
Cam Gordon: There are so many foundational efforts in the book and some of the early, early ones built by fans and enthusiasts really stuck with me.
I’m thinking fan-built mailing lists and message boards like SloanNet, The Henhouse and others. It was so challenging to even get online in the mid-1990s yet these folks took the time to build these inclusive fan communities to give fans of Sloan, the Tragically Hip and other Canadian artists a place to gather and connect at a time when there were so few websites of any kind.
They really did create a template we later saw in Yahoo! Groups, WhatsApp friend chats, Discord servers and so many other versions of digital gathering spots for people with a shared passion.
The early days of digital marketing in Canadian music seemed very experimental and laidback. How do you think corporate culture shifted as digital expertise became the norm?
It became more about money, performance and ROI. The new book Mood Machine by Liz Pelly is a good example. It’s about Spotify and their approach to streaming that leads with data, curation and algorithms. Everything can be measured and the music is almost secondary at times.
Similarly, Facebook ads, YouTube pre-roll and all other types of ad targeting are way more sophisticated than the banner ads and annoying spam emails of the Track Changes years.
What do you miss most about the early days of fan engagement?
Many fan communities used to be more narrow and focused, by virtue of the fact that not everyone was online and it was way more effort to find your people prior to the on-demand internet we know today.
I remember being in a Yahoo! Group about the indie rock band Slint and literally everyone there knew EVERYTHING about Slint–a band who released just two albums and an EP during their initial phase.
It was extremely fun but also, there was nothing passive or casual about it. The only people who were there were people who were really into Slint or Slint-adjacent bands. So as somebody obsessing over this music, it was somehow more satisfying and felt more important to be connecting with that kind of focused online community.
What surprised you about music PR and marketing during that time?
A lot of the corporate comms and marketing of post-Napster efforts by major labels feel quaint and naive in retrospect. Music industry people were freaking out (and rightfully so) about people stealing music, so many nascent digital platforms were pulled together by the major labels to try and sell their music online at a time when most people [didn’t] know how to use a computer.
MusicNet (run by BMG, EMI and AOL Time Warner) and PressPlay (run by Sony and Universal) were two examples. The latter had all sorts of weird DRM measures like downloads disappearing after 30 days.
These services don’t make any sense by today’s standards but there was so much urgency because of Napster. I don’t fault any of the labels for greenlighting these projects when listening habits were evolving in real-time.
What’s your favourite recent example of a marketing campaign that tapped into music nostalgia?
Boards of Canada mailing out VHS cassettes to hype [new music] seems pretty clever.
The Author
Your parents ran your merch table at your book launch. How did your family influence your musical taste?
Not much to be honest. My parents had a few cassettes growing up: Queen’s Greatest Hits, Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA, some Neil Diamond and various Andrew Lloyd Webber soundtracks, but I wouldn’t say we were a particularly musical household. Luckily, this didn’t prevent them from doing an awesome job, selling books at the launch event.
Growing up, you had an AOL internet package for 10 hours per month. If your internet access at home was limited to 10 hours per month, how would you spend it now?
Highly programmed YouTube viewing and checking my Yahoo! fantasy basketball team and stock tickers once a day.
I became an extra in Serena Ryder’s music video through a Craigslist ad. Have you landed any similar opportunities in Canadian entertainment through the internet?
I would get star struck at times emailing directly with members of the Hidden Cameras, the New Pornographers and Dan Snaith (Caribou) to set up interviews for Chart or other music websites I was writing for. However, I quickly realized they used Hotmail and Gmail just like everyone else. Email was the great equalizer. This realization carried over into my career working in PR where email made it unbelievably easy to connect with any journalist or influencer at any time.
If you could save any Canadian music memorabilia in your own archive, what would it be?
My out-of-print Bourbon Tabernacle Choir CDs and a half dozen back issues of Chart.
Cam Gordon’s book Track Changes is available now and it covers everything you need to know about Canada’s music industry from Speakers Corner to Spotify.
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