One of the reasons MuchMusic is better than MTV is that an unknown, unsigned band can still get its music videos played on MuchMusic. On MTV, unless you're Mariah Carey, Blink 182, Britney Spears, or the Barenaked Ladies and have a multi-million dollar budget, you don't have a chance.

Example:

The current (8/2/2001) #1 video on MTV's TRL is Fat Lip by Sum 41, a little known Canadian pop/punk band from Ajax, Ontario. This video was only made, however, for viewing on MuchMusic. Never in their wildest dreams did the band think it would be shown on MTV, and certainly not so often (they probably also didn't think it would turn out so well). Had they been an American band focused solely on MTV airplay this video would never have been made and they would never have the sales and exposure they're currently enjoying.

Another cool thing about MuchMusic is that they're not afraid to show multiple videos from the same band. NO artist in the US will get more than two videos off an album aired regularly on MTV, so they're not made. In Canada, however, with smaller per-video costs and con-con airtime to fill, a band can make and have shown as many videos as they want (assuming, of course, that they're enjoyable).

Example:

The Matthew Good Band, one of the best and best-selling bands in Canada, can easily put out 5 top-10 singles off of one of their albums. In the States this would most likely result in 2 over-produced, over-hyped, over-aired videos. In Canada, however, (almost) every radio single results in a video, so the MGB can put out 5 innovative, enjoyable videos without the pressure of making just two mass-appeal, salable ones.

Artists can also get support and funding from VideoFACT

They actually do acknowledge much outside of Ontario, but the fact of the matter is they're working out of Toronto, thus they're going to have a lot of "local" stuff, which means Ontario, not all over the place. It's simply easier for them to cover events and the like that are close to them.

Much Music does have a lot of the same things that MTV does, but it's actually more Vh1'y a lot of the time, and they also have french programs every so often. ("French Kiss" is on for however long.. I remember waking up on the couch one time and wondering what the hell was going on because everything was in French.)

They also have that Live and Interactive thing, which they can't really do on MTV. Everything is on a smaller scale, I guess you'd say. I watched the MTV Music Video Awards on Much and laughed whenever the guy representing them would tell actors and people where he was from, and they'd just kind of nod or make some crack about Canada. Ahh, that sure was amusing. What I'm saying here is, MM doesn't have a whole lot of influence and it isn't that well known, unlike MTV/Vh1 which seems to be a household name. (Sickening, isn't it?)

They actually do have local talent on their sometimes, which I find pretty nifty.. that doesn't happen on MTV really.