SOCAN held an online town hall meeting with our executives, representatives of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC), and our members, on June 5, 2025. It was moderated by SOCAN’s Paul Stillo, Senior Account Executive, Audiovisual, and fostered a healthy dialogue between all parties.
SCGC President John Rowley cited SOCAN as a key partner in advocacy for screen composers, especially with current CRTC proceedings in Ottawa, and mentioned our events designed to promote and celebrate the SCGC community.
SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown highlighted the valuable feedback that SOCAN receives from the SCGC, which drives the kind of change that impacts screen composers in a positive way. Brown also pointed to the recent addition of SOCAN executives dedicated to screen composers: SOCAN Ambassador Robert Kraft in Los Angeles, and SOCAN Director, Film & TV Mike Rocha.
Rocha himself discussed making operational improvements and enhancements based on feedback from screen composers. “I’m here to listen,” he said. SOCAN Chief Membership Officer Jean-Christian Céré echoed that sentiment, saying “Screen composers are key to this organization, and to our future.”
“I’m here to listen”— SOCAN Director, Film & TV Mike Rocha
SOCAN Legal Counsel Fraser Turnbull said that with the installation of a new federal Canadian government, all AI regulation has been re-set, so SOCAN has re-started its advocacy. The first step was sending a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney and all Members of Parliament, advocating for transparency, licensing, and no new copyright exceptions when it comes to AI-generated music. Carney’s office acknowledged the letter, and forwarded it to the Minister of Artificial intelligence and Digital Innovation, a newly created office.
SOCAN Head of Reproduction Rights Martin Lavalée talked about post-sync-rights. He explained that every time a screen production is streamed, downloaded, or broadcast, it’s being reproduced. Those reproductions generate reproduction royalties, which are different from the composer’s fee and performance royalties. SOCAN want these rights protected and monetized, and have created a reproduction rights clause to clarify this, that can be included in all contracts. We’re also negotiating for reproduction rights licenses with global streamers , and with the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.
Alec MacLachlan, Director, SOCAN Analytics, reviewed a report on our transparency for members, looking at domestic revenue trends and our forecast for 2025. He also briefly examined our management net expense ratio, distributions, and digital audio rates.
Leslie Craig, SOCAN Vice-President of Royalty Services, went over the ongoing development of our new matching technology, developed by Spanish Point. She explained why the launch has been delayed until Spring of 2026, but emphasized that its development is continuing at same pace and intensity. Craig said that the new member portal will be more intuitive and easy to navigate, and will include many processing speed improvements. She expected more accurate data quality via a single-source system, and said that the speed of matching files has been reduced from weeks to within a day – which can increase the frequency of distributions. Member statements will have more granular data, especially on foreign income, and we’ll also be able to distribute royalties before we hit the 100% share picture. The new technology will bring performance and reproduction rights into one system, and we’ll work to obtain ongoing member feedback to adapt the tech as we move forward.
The new member portal will be more intuitive and easy to navigate
James Leacock, SOCAN Director, Member Operations provided a sneak peek at the new member portal, walking through a sample of how to open up a case file with SOCAN. Members in the new portal will be able to create cases, track them, attach supporting documentation, check updates, and receive notifications of case status (created, updated, or resolved).
In the Q&A session after the presentation, one attendee asked about initiatives to help and mentor lesser-known composers. Mike Rocha said that’s exactly what he’s working on; that he’s also working with the SCGC to determine the best way forward; and pointed to the SOCAN Foundation’s media lab, programs, and grants for screen composers.
Another attendee asked if there’s one person at SOCAN responsible for cue sheet entry. Paul Stillo answered that we have a team that enters cue sheets all day long, but specific cue sheet questions can go to the membership team, who can solve the issue, or refer it to someone else at SOCAN who might solve it.
In response to a question about using third-party collection services, Stillo said that SOCAN proactively checks on foreign performances, reaches out to rights organizations in other territories, and sends them cue sheets if necessary. He suggested that members with international royalties reach out to us if those are missing.
In response to a question about matching foreign royalties from screen productions on SOCAN statements with data from the WIOpro service, Leslie Craig said that we get information for repertoire from streaming and broadcast – whether the info is matched and verified; matched but unverified (SOCAN has received no cue sheet, so we reach out to get it); or unmatched (SOCAN posts the info online for members to claim, where it stays for eventual matching).
Asked to explain briefly how reproduction rights royalties are negotiated by SOCAN, Martin Lavalée said that we always require prior authorization in order to negotiate – and that because SOCAN does this a lot, we’re good at it, and the parties we’re negotiating with know our standard operating procedure. Lavalée said that even if SOCAN negotiates post-sync rights for a member, it’s on a non-exclusive basis, so they’re able to do other deals for the same works on their own, if they wish.