We are living in a time where curation has become an unprecedented commodity. A few weeks ago Spotify, the streaming giant, went public. There is — apparently — money to be made in the streaming/curation industry, of course, not for most musicians but for someone! In Canada, the sign post that curated mixes might eventually become *the way* to consume music was the MuchMusic-produced alt-rock mix Big Shiny Tunes. On this episode of the Dominionated Podcast Mac and Geoff discuss several editions of the series. Topics include: the strange inclusion of Bran Van 3000 on Big Shiny Tunes 2, the slow growth of of the Cancon infrastructure, the two pillars of early 2000s popular Canadian rock music: Nickelback and Sum 41, the impact they had on Canadian alternative music, the confidence of early 00s Canadian major labels, the strange addition of emo into the MuchMusic machine, Alexisonfire as unlikely rockstars, the end of CD sales and so much more.

Songs included in this episode:

Pale Red - Blink

Bran Van 3000 - Drinking in LA

Matthew Good Band - Load Me Up

Sum 41 - The Hell Song

Billy Talent - Nothing to Lose

Wintersleep - Weighty Ghost

Alexisonfire - No Transitory

Pertinent links:

The definitive ranking of all 14 Big Shiny Tunes albums

How Big Shiny Tunes defined CanRock

Why Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children Is the Greatest Psychedelic Album of the ’90s