Photo by courtesy/courtoisie. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Madison Olds, Layla Zoe (top/en haut), Roman Smirnov (bottom/en-dessous), Adrian Chalifour

Four SOCAN members win First-Place Prizes in 2019 Unsigned Only song competition

Story by Howard Druckman | Wednesday September 11th, 2019

SOCAN members Madison Olds, Layla Zoe, Adrian Chalifour, and Roman Smirnov have won first-place prizes in the genre categories of the 2019 Unsigned Only competition.

Multiple winner Olds took top honours in the Adult Contemporary category, for her song “Thank You,” and also earned two honourable mentions: one in the Vocal Performance field, for the same song, and on in the Screenshot category, for “Moments in the Mountains.”  Double winner Zoe won first place in Blues, for “The Deeper They Bury Me,” and an honourable mention in Vocal Performance, for “I’ll Be Reborn Blues.”

Chalifour reached the zenith of the Adult Album Alternative category, for his song “Head Down, Heart Up,” while Roman Smirnov scaled the peak of the Instrumental field, with “Kuwaka.” Big Little Lions earned a second-place win in the Screenshot filed, for “Find Your Tribe.”

In addition to these winners, 24 SOCAN member also earned Honorable Mentions in their respective categories, including four in the Country filed and five in the Teen category. The Honourable Mention winners are:

Adult Alternative
Dale Boyle, “Ghosts”
Mike Goodreau, “I’m So Glad I Found You”

Blues
Spencer Mackenzie, “Devil Under her Skin”
No Trombones, “Walk The Walk”

Christian
Brant Pethick, “Higher”
West of Here, “Reach for the Sky”

Country
Wes Mack, “Best Hangover”
Danielle Todd, “Crazy”
Dylan Holton, “I Used To”
Jesse Slack, “Lip Sync”

Folk/Singer-Songwriter
Emma Cook, “Say it Loud”

Jazz
Denielle Bassels, “Cool Cool Water”

Pop/Top 40
James Alphonse, “I’ll Be Your Wall”
Francois Klark, “Run”
I. ARI, “Stay V Go”

R&B/Hip-Hop
DSTNY, “Lies”

Screenshot
JoJo Worthington, “Stabilize”
Goodnight, Sunrise, “WVV”

Teen
Kat Beck, “Hooked On Your Love”
Beamer Wigley, “I Knew”
Mikalyn Hay, “Nothing But Blood”
Kyle Meagher, “Nowhere”
Sofia Kay, “Tea Shop”

Vocal Performance
David Blair, “Why”

SOCAN congratulates all of our winning members on these achievements. For a complete list of winners, and to hear the winning songs, click here.

Photo by Marie-Michèle Bouchard

Andréanne A. Malette : Doing Good

Story by Eric Parazelli | Thursday September 12th, 2019

Andréanne A. Malette’s hit “Ici et ailleurs” will receive a Popular Music Award at the 30th SOCAN Awards Gala, scheduled at Montréal’s La Tohu on Sept. 22, 2019. This earworm is much more than a catchy melody; it’s also a song conceived by its creator to do good. It talks about self-confidence, the importance of being true to who we are, and to not be afraid to take one’s rightful place. We met with Malette on the roof of our Montréal office, where she told us about the spark that led to the creation of the song; of the video concept that features women with remarkable stories; and how difficult it can be to gauge a song’s potential for success before releasing it into the universe.

Photo by courtesy of/courtoisie de RE:SOUND

Ian MacKay to leave RE:SOUND by the end of 2019

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday September 10th, 2019

Ian MacKay, the President of RE:SOUND since 2009, will be leaving the organization – which collects performance royalties for artists and record labels – at the end of the year.

In 2019, MacKay was instrumental in creating and launching Entandem, a joint venture with SOCAN created to simplify the licensing process so that music users can play all the music they want in their business legally and ethically. Entandem ensures that those who created and fostered the music – songwriters, music publishers, performing artists, and record labels – are fairly compensated in a single payment to one organization.

Over his 10 years at the company, MacKay supervised the implementation of other key strategic initiatives, including the expansion of RE:SOUND’s Board of Directors to be more reflective of RE:SOUND’s diverse stakeholders, and the addition of an Independent Chair. In 2018, RE:SOUND contributed more than $50 million in domestic and international income in remuneration to artists (including background musicians and session players) and record labels (including both major and indie labels).

“I’m very proud of all that I and the team have accomplished at RE:SOUND over the last decade,” said MacKay. “I’m leaving the organization in great hands, with a seasoned and passionate senior management team.” Anthony Ariganello, Chair of the Board of RE:SOUND, said that “The Board is very proud to highlight that MacKay’s tenure at RE:SOUND has been marked by aggressive revenue growth, expansion in revenue sources, and cost reductions through efficiencies, and wishes to thank him for all his hard work over the years.”

RE:SOUND has started searching for MacKay’s successor, while he stays on for an interim period to assure a smooth leadership transition.