For two days at the 2023 BreakOut West festival and conference in Kelowna, BC, on Oct. 11 and 12, the SOCAN Song House provided 12 member participants the opportunity to develop the craft of writing songs. The session was led and organized on-site by SOCAN Creative Executive Racquel Villagante, and held at a local recording studio, Frequency Sound 528.
The participating songwriters in the Song House, all from Western Canada, were:
- Lindsay Arnold
- Lana Winterhalt
- Shea Michael
- Ila Barker
- Emma Alves
- Mike Schlosser
- Madison Bell
- Bria Rose
- Jinting Zhao
- Alexandria Maillot
- Terez
- Jules
The first day, the song camp mentor, songwriter-producer Mike Sonier (an L.A.-based SOCAN member), shared his five principles of great songwriting. Then each participant shared a song with the group, so Sonier could provide feedback. The second day, the 12 music creators broke off into three groups of four people each, curated according to style and skill, with one lead producer for each room (Lana Winterhalt, Mike Schlosser, and Jinting Zhao). The participants spent the day collaborating in order to co-write a new song. At the final listening session, the playback revealed three truly unique songs in different styles: folk/singer-songwriter, pop-rock, and pop.
All 12 SOCAN songwriters enjoyed themselves, and came away with inspiration, insight, new co-write connections, new songs for their repertoire, and a more comprehensive understanding of what it takes to write a great song. “It was indescribable,” Bria Rose told Global TV (Okanagan) after the song camp. “It was the best feeling in the world. I didn’t want to be anywhere else except doing that… I was in the zone. I was so focused, and excited, but mostly, I just knew that this was where I was supposed to be.”
At the 2023 Western Canadian Music Awards (WCMAs), held during BreakOut West, Snotty Nose Rez Kids earned a leading three honours: Recording of the Year (for I’m Good, HBU), Rap & Hip Hop Artist of the Year, and Songwriters of the Year, sponsored by SOCAN (for “Hot Planet”). Other winners included Begonia in the Pop Artist category William Prince in the Roots Artist category, and Vincent Ho for Classical Composer of the Year (for R1ddler, from the Sandman’s Castle album). Access the full list of winners.
In total, 585 people attended BreakOut West events, with 45 delegates from other countries. A total of 74 Canadian speakers were engaged across 26 conference sessions, and more than 1,100 one-on-one meetings. Attendees were able to take part in numerous networking events, making valuable contacts and developing key business opportunities.