A crowd of more than 200 SOCAN members gathered at the Gold Corp stage of the BMO Theatre in Vancouver to attend the SOCAN Annual General Meeting on June 18, 2019, to learn about SOCAN’s major achievements in 2018 – including a record-breaking $375-million in music creator revenues. With a theme of “extended play,” the event was also streamed live in both languages on Facebook, for members who couldn’t attend in person.
After a strong opening performance from singer-songwriter Luca Fogale, SOCAN Board of Directors President and Chair Marc Ouellette reported on various milestones for the organization, including the fact that SOCAN now numbers almost 160,000 members, and discussed the work of SOCAN’s Board of Directors in 2018.
SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste spoke of SOCAN’s 2018 financial record-setting results – including total revenue of $375 million; more than $87 million of that in international revenue; $320 million distributed to music creators and publishers, including royalties from almost 63 billion online music services performances; and a 29 per cent increase in revenue from digital sources.
Baptiste also discussed the fact that, for the first time ever – thanks to our successful acquisition of SODRAC – SOCAN is now collecting and distributing for mechanical rights; that streaming revenue is increasing, but songwriters, composers and music publishers must receive their fair share, which should be more; how our song camps, song camp Mondays, new office in Los Angeles, and new office space in Vancouver are supporting and accommodating more members; how SOCAN continues to create cutting-edge digital tools and services, including artificial intelligence and our application programming interface (API), to better serve our publisher and writer members; and how our new subsidiary companies, Dataclef, Audiam, and Entandem, are advancing the causes of our members and licensees. For a more complete accounting of SOCAN’s activities in 2018, see our full Annual Report.
A lively question-and-answer session followed. At the finale of the AGM, “Hot Child in the City,” a 1978 Billboard No. 1 smash hit co-written by Nick Gilder and James McCullough, and recorded by Gilder, was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Gilder was presented with the honour, and delivered a captivating closing performance of the song.
At the start of the reception following the AGM, SOCAN Chief Membership and Business Development Officer Michael McCarty presented Jonathan Simkin, of Simkin Artist Management, with a 2019 SOCAN Achievement Award for his role in helping to foster the Most Performed Song in the history of SOCAN, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.”
At the reception, attending members connected with both SOCAN staff and each other, over drinks and hors d’œuvres.