Photo by Jean-François LeBlanc

LaF wins 2018 Francouvertes

Story by Eric Parazelli | Tuesday May 8th, 2018

Rarely has there been such an eclectic final round at the annual Francouvertes competition. Besdie Lou-Adriane Cassidy’s delicate rock sensibility (2nd place), and the dislocated experimental punk of CRABE (3rd place), it was the contagious energy of rap combo LaF that stood out and won the final round of the 2018 Francouvertes contest, which took place at Montréal’s Club Soda on May 7, 2018. And thanks to the combined votes of the professional jury, the general public, and various event partners, LaF also won several additional prizes. Lou-Adriane Cassidy and CRABE also didn’t leave empty-handed, having each won a few rewards.

Lou-Adriane Cassidy, LaF, CRABE

All three 2018 Francouvertes finalists (L to R: Lou-Adriane Cassidy, LaF and CRABE) gave everything they had during the finals. (Photo: Eric Parazelli)

The night opened with the last of the “J’aime mes ex” performances, a SOCAN presentation, featuring event spokespersons Klô Pelgag and Tire le coyote, who performed a few songs as a duo prior to the finalists’ performances.

SOCAN member Lou-Adriane Cassidy and her collaborators Stéphanie Boulay and Philémon Cimon won the Paroles & Musique Award – including a $1,000 cash prize and a stay at the Paris SOCAN House offered by SOCAN – in recognition of the excellent writing of the songs performed by Cassidy during the semifinals.

For a complete list of the 2018 finalists’ awards, visit the Francouvertes website. You can listen to the entire finals show on May 9, at 7:00 p.m., during the Influence Franco show on SiriusXM 174.

SOCAN congratulates LaF for the major victory in their budding career!

Photo by Jeff Knights

Triple winner Rose Cousins earns Song of the Year honour at 2018 East Coast Music Awards

Story by Howard Druckman | Wednesday May 9th, 2018

Rose Cousins earned the honours for both Album and Folk Recording of the Year, for her critically acclaimed Natural Conclusion, as well as Song of the Year for “Grace,” at the 2018 edition of the East Coast Music Awards (ECMAs), the gala ceremonies of which were held on Thursday, May 3, at the Scotiabank centre in Halifax.

ECMA SOCAN Song House 2018

Participants at the SOCAN Song House at East Coast Music Week 2018. Left to right. Charlie A’Court, Kayo, SOCAN’s Aidan D’Aoust and Melissa Cameron-Passley, Gee Clarke, Andrew Rodgers, Group Leader Ralph Murphy, Emile Landry, Matt Steele, Stephen Green, Hilary Ladd, Daniel Walker, Rachel Beck, and Jordan Musycyn.

SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste presented Joel Plaskett with the award for Songwriter of the Year (Plaskett also won Studio of the Year for his New Scotland Yard), Andrew Staniland won Classical Composition of the Year for The River Within Us, and the Francophone Recording of the Year was Jacques Jacobus’ Le retour de Jacobus. Venue of the Year 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.

Besides Plaskett, other double-winners were Atlantic Canadian veteran blues-rocker Matt Minglewood, who won the Fans’ Choice Entertainer of the Year, and whose Fly Like Desperados – his first studio album in more than 10 years – tied with Mike Biggar for Blues Recording of the Year. Opera singer Measha Brueggergosman, originally from Fredericton, earned both the Bucky Adams Memorial Award and Gospel Recording of the Year, for Songs of Freedom.

As part of the week leading up to the awards ceremony, renowned, veteran songwriter Ralph Murphy led the SOCAN Song House at East Coast Music Week 2018, May 2-3. Twelve songwriter participants from Atlantic Canada were selected to participate, gaining valuable insight into the craft of writing a hit song. Daniel Walker, Rachel Beck, Emilie Landry, Kayo, Gee Clark, Matt Steele, Jordyn Musycyn, Andrew Rodgers, Stephen Green, Hillary Ladd, Charlie A’Court, Andrew Waite.

Rachel Beck SOCAN No. 1 Song Award 2018

Rachel Beck enjoys receiving her SOCAN No. 1 Song Award for “Reckless Heart,” presented during the SOCAN “Friends & Family Bash” at the 2018 ECMAs. Left to right: Stan Meissner, President and Chair of the SOCAN Board of Directors; SOCAN’s Melissa Cameron-Passley and Michael McCarty; Rachel Beck; SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste; and SOCAN’s Rodney Murphy.

In addition to the workshop, the East Coast Music Awards, in partnership with the Atlantic Presenters Association, will present the second annual SOCAN Song House Tour –a “block booked” tour that features five of the SOCAN Song House workshop’s participants (one from each Atlantic region), and also features the new work developed during the Song House.

SOCAN presented a Songwriters’ Circle from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 6, in The Schooner Room at Casino Nova Scotia. Hosted by Alan Doyle, the session featured engaging songs and captivating stories from Doyle, Rose Cousins, Reeny Smith, Jenn Grant, Carleton Stone (of Port Cities), and Lennie Gallant.

SOCAN also hosted a “Friends & Family Bash” on Friday, May 4, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Murphy’s Restaurant, gathering together our East Coast members and local industry friends. The event included a SOCAN No. 1 Song Award presentation for Song House participant Rachel Beck, whose “Reckless Heart” reaching the top of the CBC Radio 2 Top 20 Chart, on March 8, 2018.

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.