Photo by courtesy/courtoisie. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Caveboy, Nuela Charles

Nuela Charles, Caveboy win 2021 HER Music Awards

Story by Howard Druckman | Monday February 28th, 2022

The SOCAN Foundation, part of the SOCAN Group of companies, was proud to announce that R&B singer-songwriter Nuela Charles and pop/rock trio Caveboy are the two $5,000 prize recipients of the 2021 Her Music Awards, sponsored by Bandzoogle, held online in during the noon hour (ET) of Feb. 25, 2022.

In a new initiative of the Her Music Awards this year, five $1,000 prize Honourable Mentions were given to Belle Grand Fille, Liza, Robyn Jacob, Stéphanie Hamelin Tomala, and Terez. Additionally, the Songwriters Association of Canada (S.A.C.) and Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ) offered a one-year complimentary membership to the two grand prize recipients.

“I’m thrilled to be one of this year’s Her Music Award recipients,” said Nuela Charles. “Major thank you to SOCAN Foundation and Bandzoogle. I’m excited for this year, and all of the new music I’m preparing to release, so this award definitely means a lot, and will contribute greatly to my career. Thank you!”

“We’re so grateful to the SOCAN Foundation and Bandzoogle for this generous award! Both have played such important supportive roles throughout our career as a band, since the beginning,” said Isabelle Banos of Caveboy, speaking for herself and bandmates Lana Cooney and Mint Simon. “We’re so excited to be able to continue writing and releasing new music, now more than ever! Thank you! We love you!”

“The Her Music Awards are designed to celebrate and support female-identified people building momentum, as music creators on the verge of taking their creative careers to the next level,” said Charlie Wall-Andrews, Executive Director of SOCAN Foundation. “This important initiative previously supported trailblazing artists such as Haviah Mighty and Leela Gilday, and we’re thrilled to congratulate the incredible Caveboy and Nuela Charles as this year’s grand prize recipients. We’re thankful for the support of Bandzoogle and community stakeholders that made the Her Music Awards possible.”

The event  was hosted by Shakura S’Aida, Chair of the Her Music Awards committee.  The recipients were selected by a jury composed of singer-songwriters Jill Barber, Maude Audet, and Danielle McTaggart (of the duo Dear Rouge), as well as Kesi Smyth (General Manager/Human Resources at 604 Records). All applications were evaluated on the basis of the quality of their musical work, career potential, as well as the impact that receiving an award would have on their personal development as an artist.

Charlotte Cardin earns a leading six major nominations for 2022 JUNO Awards

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday March 1st, 2022

The 2022 JUNO Awards nominations were annunced on March 1, and Charlotte Cardin leads the pack with six nominations, while The Weeknd and Justin Bieber  follow closely with five each. Cardin is nominated for TikTok JUNO Fan Choice, as well as Single, Album, Artist, Pop Album, and Music Video of the Year. Nominations for both The Weeknd and Bieber include Fan Choice, Single, and Artist of the Year.

“I’m still trying to process it,” said Cardin in a Zoom press conference after the nominations were announced online. “My friends and family are very excited. It’s like extra gravy for an album [Phoenix] that we were very happy with in the first place. I’m very stoked… It’s very personal. I wanted the album to be real and authentic and true to what I wanted to say.”

Among the nominees are:

Songwriter of the Year, presented by SOCAN
The Weeknd
Allison Russell
Charlotte Day Wilson
Mustafa
TOBi

Classical Composition of the Year
Dorothy Chang Redshift – Flight
Jaap Nico Hamburger – Chamber Symphony No. 2: Children’s War Diaries
Kati Agócs – Concerto for Violin and Percussion Orchestra
Keiko Devaux – Arras
Saman Shahi – Breathing in the Shadows

Francophone Recording of the Year
Cœur de pirate – Impossible à aimer
FouKi – Grignotines de Luxe
Louis-Jean Cormier – Le ciel est au plancher
Roxane Bruneau – Acrophobie
Vincent Vallières – Toute beauté n’est pas perdue

Contemporary Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year
Adrian Sutherland
DJ Shub
Jayli Wolf
Shawnee Kish
Snotty Nose Rez Kids

In the press conference after the announcements, a handful of nominees answered journalists’ questions.

Allison Russell, nominated for both Songwriter and Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, said, “I’m so deeply honoured… It’s the most personal record I’ve made… What I’ve been hearing from people who’ve been listening, and coming to shows, is that those stories can become part of someone else’s life.”

Charlotte Day Wilson, whose three nominations include one as Producer of the Year, commented on her status as a representative for under-represented female producers, saying, “It’s the category I’m most excited about…  It’s something that I’ve wanted to have more recognition in, and it’s just nice to be able to point to that and say, ‘See?’”

That sentiment was echoed by Recording Engineer of the Year nominee Hill Kourkoutis, who said, “I’m extremely grateful. We’re now closing the gap in the engineering and production world.”

TikTok phenomenon 347aidan, nominated for Fan Choice and Breakthrough Artist of the Year, said that when he’s writing, “I have no intent for the song to blow up… It’s all very natural.. I’m an 18-year-old, so when other 18-year-olds scroll through their phone, and see my songs, they can relate.”

That idea was echoed by another Tik Tok star, Jessia, who said, “I write what I want to write, and I use it as my own therapy.”

JP Saxe, who won the Breakthrough Artist Award last year, and is nominated for both Artist and Album of the Year in 2022, said of his post-breakthrough songwriting, “I think of the creative process more as an uncovering than creating… Songs are usually written from a place of figuring out our emotions… There are lots of songs about the beginning of relationships, and lots about the end, but not many about the middle.”

The 2021 JUNO Awards will take place May 15 – live and in person for the first time in two years – at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto, streamed via CBC Music, and broadcast on CBC-TV.

For a complete list of nominees, click here.

Notice of Intent to Withdraw Proposed Tariff

Story by SOCAN | Monday February 28th, 2022

Please be advised that SOCAN intends to make, in or after the week of April 4, 2022, an application under section 69 of the Copyright Act to withdraw the following proposed tariff:

  • Statement of Proposed Royalties to be Collected by SODRAC for Tariff 5 (Musical Works Embedded in Cinematographic Works for Theatrical Exhibition or Private Use) for the Years 2017 to 2019.

This constitutes a public notice under s. 69.1 of the Copyright Act.

Note: the majority of the assets of SODRAC were acquired by SOCAN in July 2018.