Port Cities win SOCAN songwriter honour at 2019 Music Nova Scotia Awards

Story by Howard Druckman | Monday November 11th, 2019

Port Cities – band members Dylan Guthro, Breagh MacKinnon, Carleton Stone, and their co-writer Thomas ”Tawgs” Salter – won the SOCAN Songwriter of the Year honour for their song “Montreal” at the 2019 Music Nova Scotia Awards, held Nov. 10, 2019, at the Holiday Inn in Truro. SOCAN Board of Directors President Marc Ouellette presented the honour to Port Cities, who also earned an award for Digital Artist of the Year.

Erin Costelo was the big winner of the night, with four awards: Recording, Solo Recording, Americana Bluegrass Recording, and Producer of the Year, all for her album Sweet Marie.

Five nominated artists earned two awards each:

  • Leanne Hoffman won New Artist Recording and Pop Recording of the Year, for What Remains;
  • Wintersleep took Alternative Recording (for In The Land Of) and Music Video of the Year (for “Forest Fires”);
  • Keith  Mullins won for Traditional/Roots Recording of the Year, for Upward (Howlin’ at the Moon), and Educator of the Year, which he shared with Shannon Quinn;
  • Thomas Stajcer took home Country Recording of the Year for Will I Learn To Love Again?, and Studio Engineer of the Year; and
  • PINEO & LOEB won DJ and Electronic Artist of The Year.

Music Nova Scotia presented Gordie Sampson with the first-ever Director’s Choice Award, recognizing an outstanding individual from the Nova Scotia music community. And Maxim Cormier earned the Acadian/Francophone Artist of the Year Award.

Various SOCAN licensees also won awards in the industry categories, including the Marigold Cultural Centre, for Community Presenter of the Year; The Halifax Jazz Festival, for Event of the Year: Andrew Jackson (of the Halifax Jazz Festival), for Promoter of the Year; The Marquee Ballroom, The Seahorse Tavern, and The Local, a three-way tie for Venue of the Year; Halifax Is Burning (CKDU-FM, 88.1 FM), for Radio Program of the Year; and CKDU itself, for Radio Station of the Year.

SOCAN was also on the scene throuhgout the pre-awards conference, connecting with our many East Coast members, and attending daily conference panels and nightly festival showcase performances.

For a complete winners list, click here.

Entandem simplifies music licensing for thousands of Canadian businesses since July launch

Story by SOCAN | Tuesday November 12th, 2019

Canadian businesses are responding positively to a new company created to make the music licensing process more convenient. Since its launch in July 2019, Entandem, a joint venture between RE:SOUND and SOCAN, has simplified the music licensing process for a growing number of Canadian businesses – to date, a remarkable 3,300 – that use live and recorded music to help attract and keep customers, clients and employees.

So far, Entandem has collected more than $5-million in music-licensing revenue (in revenue collections from July 1, 2019 to Oct. 30, 2019), demonstrating its effectiveness in making it convenient for Canadian businesses to use music ethically, legally, and responsibly, while ensuring that the creators and owners of the music receive fair compensation for the use of their valuable work.

“The businesses we work with clearly appreciate the convenience of completing both RE:SOUND and SOCAN music licenses at once,” said Amadou Tall, Director, Entandem Licensing. “Not only is this great for business, it’s a positive development for rights holders. The fair royalties they have earned allow them to maintain and build their careers, and keep bringing us the music we love.”

By law, whether they use recorded or live music, Canadian businesses must pay for the music they use so that those who made the music can be fairly compensated. Just as restaurants pay food suppliers, and nightclubs pay for the liquor they serve to make their business better, music is an important, often vital, piece of the customer, client or employee’s overall experience.

The money collected from RE:SOUND and SOCAN music licenses through Entandem is distributed as royalties to songwriters, composers, music publishers, artists, and record labels.

Entandem simplifies the completion of both RE:SOUND and SOCAN licenses, previously managed separately by each organization, into a single, jointly-operated business comprising 35 full-time employees, whose work is an essential part of the Canadian music ecosystem. Entandem is headquartered in Toronto with a branch office in Montréal.

With Entandem, retailers, restaurants, nightclubs, fitness clubs and myriad other organizations that use music can complete their legally required music licenses in a single transaction.

Businesses seeking more information about the music licenses they may require can visit entandemlicensing.com.

Dataclef, Indian Performing Right Society sign landmark contract

Story by SOCAN | Thursday November 7th, 2019

Dataclef – part of the SOCAN Group of companies – and the Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS) are significantly expanding their services agreement, from claiming and reports processing to comprehensive back-office and rights management services, including tariff administration, member self-service tools, and brand support.

As one of the world’s fastest-growing music economies, India is attracting attention and product launches from national and global music brands. The rapid expansion of music and technology use in India means that rights holders require modern, scalable music identification and royalty administration solutions. IPRS has determined that Dataclef Suite, a fully-configurable agreements-based platform, is perfect for the forward-thinking music rights organization.

“The commencement of this deal will re-structure IPRS into a world-class, technology-driven copyright society focused on transparency and efficiency,” said IPRS Chairman Javed Akhtar. “The Dataclef team’s deep industry and technology expertise makes Dataclef Suite the obvious choice for building the future of Indian copyright management.”

IPRS is India’s only registered copyright society for music composers, lyricists, and music publishers, committed to instituting technology-driven processes that improve member engagement, licensing, and transparency in the distribution of royalties.

On average, Indian music users consume 21.58 hours of music per week, surpassing the global average of 17.89 hours. With this usage, and unique Indian musical intellectual property, expected to grow in coming years, IPRS is uniquely positioned to support India’s music economy growth and lead the way in auditable, data-focused rights management.

Dataclef Suite, with its flexible APIs (Application Program Interfaces), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) backbone, and massive rights database, will ensure this growth is achieved with maximum payouts and minimum overhead. Dataclef’s exclusive matching technologies and ground-breaking agreements structure are purpose-built for the complex, high-scale challenges that  IPRS is solving.

“IPRS is fundamentally changing how music usage is processed and paid in the Indian music market,” said SOCAN Group CEO Eric Baptiste. “We are thrilled to be bringing the power of Dataclef Suite to IPRS, the Indian music economy, and the music creators and rights holders who make it an exciting and vibrant market.”

IPRS and Dataclef will immediately begin collaborative efforts to deploy and operate the new IPRS back office. The services being planned and assessed include functions, processes, and technologies required to launch a world-class copyright society using Dataclef Suite.

“With Dataclef Suite, we can manage the scale and complexity of licensing and payment agreements in the Indian music marketplace like no other partner,” said Dataclef COO Janice

Scott. “Combined with IPRS’s focus on improving efficiency and transparency through technology, this is the beginning of significant positive financial and operational outcomes for Indian songwriters, musicians, and rightsholders.”