For two days at the 2022 BreakOut West festival and conference in Calgary, on Sept. 28 and 29, 2022, the SOCAN Song House provided 12 member participants the opportunity to develop the craft of writing songs. The session was lead and organized on-site by SOCAN Creative Executive Houtan Hodania, and held at Studio Bell: Home of National Music Centre in Calgary.
The participating songwriters in the Song House, all from Western Canada, were:
- Olivia Street
- Brayden Bell
- Mauvey
- Cassidy Mann
- Victor Adeolu Oriola
- Amelie Patterson
- Mustafa Fadl El Mola
- Dee Landsberg
- Camille Brereton
- Jared Daniel
- Michaela Slinger
- NIMKISH
Left to right: Houtan Hodania, Holly Hudson, Charlie Wall-Andrews, Fraser Turnbull
The first day, they presented half-written songs and were given individualized feedback. They re-worked these songs and re-presented them to the group. On the second day, they were partnered up, and co-wrote with each other to come up with new songs together. At the final listening session, music publishers Kim Temple (High Priestess Publishing) and Vince Degiorgio (CYMBA Music Publishing) listened to their finished songs. All 12 SOCAN songwriters came away with new co-write connections, new songs for their repertoire, and a more comprehensive understanding of what it takes to write a hit song.
During the conference, held at the Calgary Marriott Downtown Hotel, SOCAN’s Hodania also participated in a workshop on The Business of Songwriting, while he and SOCAN Legal Counsel Fraser Turnbull both took part in another one, Rights and Royalties Revisited. The SOCAN Foundation’s Executive Director Charlie Wall-Andrews lead a session, Data to Dollars: Data Analytics for Artists, while the Foundation’s Programs and Development Co-ordinator Holly Hudson led the organization’s three-day Equity X Production Pop Up for Women, and appeared in a Meet the Funders panel.
In total, more than 585 people attended BreakOut West events, with delegates from 15 different countries. A total of 135 speakers were engaged across 50 conference sessions, and more than 950 one-on-one meetings. Attendees were able to take part in numerous networking events, making valuable contacts and establishing key business opportunities.