Rolicking live band The East Pointers earned the SOCAN Song of the Year honour at the 2019 East Coast Music Awards, for “Two Weeks.” SOCAN Senior Director, A&R, Rodney Murphy and JUNO-winning roots singer-songwriter Old Man Luedecke presented the band with their trophy at the East Coast Music Awards Show, on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at the Confederation Ballroom in the Delta Hotel by Marriott Prince Edward, in Charlottetown. (A second round of awards in this 31st annual edition were presented at a gala that closed the awards week, in the same venue, on Sunday, May 5, 2019.)
Classified led the award count with four, for Rap/Hip-Hop Recording, Solo Recording, and Album of the Year, all for Tomorrow Could Be the Day Things Change, as well as Video of the Year, for “Powerless.” Polaris Music Prize 2018 winner Jeremy Dutcher earned three honours, for Contemporary Roots Recording and Rising Star Recording of the Year, for his album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, as well as Indigenous Artist of the Year.
Singer-songwriter Ben Caplan earned the Songwriter of the Year Award, the Charke-Cormier Duo won Classical Composition of the Year for Ex Tempore, and the Francophone Recording of the Year was Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire’s Viens avec moi. The Venue of the Year, for the fourth time, was The Carleton Music Bar & Grill in Halifax – proudly Licensed To Play by SOCAN – which has persisted against all odds, under the guidance of Mike Campbell.
SOCAN Song House ECMAs 2019. Back Row: James Piercey (of ChessClub), Ashley Condon, Drew Moores, Corey Hachey (of FM Berlin), Alicia Toner, Cameron Nickerson, Kristen Rodden-Clarke (of Quote the Raven). Front Row: Mike McKenna Jr., Jordan Coaker (of Quote the Raven), Mallory Johnson, Elsie Morden, Melissa Cameron-Passley (of SOCAN), Brian Howes.
As part of the week leading up to the awards ceremony, renowned, veteran producer Brian Howes led the SOCAN Song House at East Coast Music Week 2019, May 1-2. Eleven songwriter participants from Atlantic Canada were selected to participate, gaining valuable insight into the craft of writing a hit song. They were (in alphabetical order) Jordan Coaker (of Quote the Raven), Ashley Condon, Corey Hachey (of FM Berlin), Mallory Johnson, Mike McKenna Jr., Drew Moores, Elsie Morden, Cameron Nickerson, James Piercey (of ChessClub), Kristen Rodden-Clarke (of Quote the Raven), and Alicia Toner.
During the ECMAs week, we presented a SOCAN No. 1 Song Award to Newfoundland-based duo The Fortunate Ones – Catherine Allan and Andrew James O’Brien – for “Hold Fast” topping the CBC Music Top 20 chart twice, on Aug. 9, 2018, and Jan. 3, 2019.
SOCAN No. 1 Song Award winners Fortunate Ones