Karl Wolf releases single created at SOCAN-sponsored song camp

Story by Howard Druckman | Thursday May 3rd, 2018

SOCAN is pleased and proud that Karl Wolf has released a single of “Way Low,” a song created at Jenson Vaughan’s SOCAN-sponsored Canada 150 Song Camp, held in 2017 in Toronto. The song, co-written by Wolf, Vaughan, Jayson DeZuzio, and Yannis Constantinou, features three-time Grammy Award winning hip-hop artist Nelly. Its SOCAN publishers are Red Riding Hood Music, Ultra Music, and BMG Rights Management Canada.

The camp re-united several of the co-writers that Vaughan had encountered – and bonded with – at the SOCAN Kenekt 2017 Song Camp in Nicaragua earlier in 2017: Laurell Barker, Jayson DeZuzio, Aaron Fontwell, and Lantz. The familiarity created a warm, familial vibe over the course of the week.

“Way Low” was released worldwide on April 20, 2018, and is the lead single for Wolf’s American debut album this year. Wolf has released seven albums, claims 20 either Gold or Platinum records, and has earned an MTV Europe Music Award, five SOCAN awards, a Canadian Radio Music Award, and three JUNO nominations. His hit song “Africa” went Top Five at radio in Japan, the Middle East, Europe, and Canada.

SOCAN signs comprehensive services deal with new performing rights organization

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday May 8th, 2018

SOCAN today announced that it has completed an extensive deal with the performing rights organization, Ducapro, to deliver back-office royalty administration services across the Caribbean island countries of Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, and St. Maarten.

Under the services agreement, which SOCAN won in a competitive process, Ducapro will provide for the first time ever comprehensive performance right administration services for local and international music played on Dutch Caribbean Island radio stations. SOCAN will provide powerful back office services to support Ducapro’s pioneering work, based on its industry-leading technologies, including matching reported information from music used on licensed radio stations to the payment to the rights-holders who have earned royalties.

“SOCAN has the expertise to support paying international and local creators through tools and processes to make this happen,” said Ducapro legal counsel David Kock. “In collaboration with SOCAN, local music creators will have worldwide support in the collection and distribution of royalties, especially through digital media.”

In addition to SOCAN, Ducapro has the full support and backing of the Aruba Musician & Artist Association (AMAA), along with other local and regional artist associations and government entities. DK Legal, a Dutch Caribbean law firm, will collect local license fees on behalf of Ducapro and enforce the rights of local and international music rights holders.

These local and international partnerships will ensure Ducapro’s success as it expands from radio play into television, music streaming, and beyond.

“Our agreement with Ducapro is a rare opportunity to witness the start of a new performing rights organization in the Western Hemisphere, let alone being the services company that empowers it,” said SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste. “This speaks to SOCAN’s mission to lead the global transformation of music rights and, ultimately, bring even more value to our own members and stakeholders.”

With a rapidly expanding data set that currently totals over 22-million International Standard Work Codes (ISWCs), more than 66-million sound recordings and all their verified metadata, over 41-million International Standard Recording Codes (ISRCs) with more than 20-million linked to ISWCs, the SOCAN Group of companies has built an unsurpassed ability to match musical performances with rights-holders. The organization is widely regarded as possessing the world’s most powerful and accurate multi-territory, multi-rights database of music compositions and sound recordings.

Combined with a state-of-the-art technology and distribution infrastructure relying on its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) IT backbone, its Master Data Management (MDM) tools, and its private cloud infrastructure, the SOCAN Group is equipped to provide robust global third-party administration and back-office services for music-using businesses of virtually any size and description to enable them to deliver increased satisfaction on every level to their customers, clients or members.

Tenille Townes signs with Columbia Nashville in the U.S.

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday April 17th, 2018

Sony Music Nashville has signed SOCAN member and emerging singer-songwriter Tenille Townes with the release of her major label debut, the four-song Living Room Worktapes EP.

Produced by co-writer Daniel Tashian (who worked on Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour album), the recording showcases the lyrical strength and soulful vocals that Townes has been cultivating since she first began singing at age five, in her hometown of Grande Prairie, Alberta.

She learned to read by studying album liner notes, and penned her first song by age 14. As a teenager, Townes toured throughout Canada and made frequent visits to Nashville to write and co-write songs. She moved there in 2013, and immersed herself in the heart of the city’s songwriting community. She’s since emerged as a dynamic, genre-defying artist, and signed a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music.

Townes recently made her Sundance Film Festival and SXSW debuts, and will join Maren Morris and others for select tour dates this Spring. She’s also been tapped by Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town for their co-headlining Bandwagon Tour, which starts in July of 2018.

SOCAN congratulates Tenille Townes on this great achievement!