A crowd of SOCAN members gathered – online-only, for the second year in a row – to attend the SOCAN Annual General Meeting on June 13, 2021, to learn about SOCAN’s major achievements in 2020.

SOCAN Board of Directors President and Chair Marc Ouellette opened by briefly mentioning SOCAN’s continuing adaptations to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and its successful efforts to maintain regular royalty distributions. Ouellette noted that Jennifer Brown has now become the first woman to lead SOCAN as its new CEO;  congratulated the newly-elected SOCAN Board, which will serve our members at the helm of the organization for the 2021-2024 term; and discussed the work of the Board in 2020.

SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown spoke of SOCAN’s 2020 financial results – including a total of $349 million in royalty distributions, which is only a four percent decrease from 2019 (better than expected during the  pandemic); a total of $282 million of that in domestic revenue; an all-time high of $100 million of that in international revenue; royalties distributed on from more than 125 billion performances; and $11 million in reproduction rights revenue.  In 2020, SOCAN grew to more than 175,000 members, and a total of 178,288 new works (songs or compositions) were registered.

Brown mentioned that in adapting to the pandemic in 2020, SOCAN was the first performing rights organization in the world to pay royalties for online concerts, and was quick to create an emergency relief advance program.

As for SOCAN’s wholly-owned subsidiary companies, SOCAN Foundation Executive Director Charlie Andrews discussed how the Foundation also created a similar COVID relief fund, and established the Black Canadian Music Awards to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in our industry. The 2020 Executive Director of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF), Vanessa Thomas, reported more than 370 million cumulative media impressions for a series of televised CSHF broadcast inductions.

A lively question-and-answer session followed, for the approximately 220 members who attended the event.

For a more complete accounting of SOCAN’s activities in 2020, see our full Annual Report.

SOCAN has announced its 2020 financial results, including more than $348-million in royalties distributed to the company’s 175,000 members, a 20 percent increase in revenues from digital sources alone, and on-time quarterly distributions of royalties to the company’s member music creators, music publishers, and visual artists.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, SOCAN saw an overall revenue decline of only 4 percent, primarily as a result of 10 months without in-person concert revenue and the use of licensed recorded music in public. The decline was offset by increased collections from digital and international sources.

The company reduced gross expenses by 4 percent over the prior year as a result of continued operational improvements through more efficient and cost-effective approaches at every level.

Highlights of SOCAN’s 2020 results:

• More than $348-million distributed to music creators, publishers, and visual artists – a 10 percent year-over-year increase.
• $391-million in total revenues – a 4 percent decrease from 2019, considerably less than many other major music rights collectives worldwide.
• A 10.5 percent year-over-year increase in international royalties, for an all-time high of $100-million going to SOCAN members.
• Collections from digital sources to a record $104-million for music created and published by SOCAN members, an average annual growth rate of 32 percent.
• More than $11-million collected for reproduction rights on behalf of the company’s expanding family of clients, most of whom work with SOCAN to administer both the performing and the reproduction right.

“Supporting our members in a year of challenges meant adjusting swiftly and effectively to challenging circumstances,” said CEO Jennifer Brown. “Reducing our operating costs and getting funds to struggling music creators as quickly and thoroughly as possible was paramount. We steadily worked to lessen the pandemic’s impact on members – particularly those who rely on income from in-person concerts and touring – offering various financial initiatives. The resiliency and passion of our members, our employees, and the industry kept us moving forward through the unexpected, unprecedented circumstances of 2020.”

In 2020, SOCAN continued to sharpen its focus on its members, providing various financial supports and new programming to help them weather the pandemic, including an enhanced emergency advance program, the Encore payment program for qualifying live performances on Facebook and Instagram, and a new permanent distribution rule for online concerts.

SOCAN continues to execute on the comprehensive financial recovery plan related to the losses of the wholly owned subsidiary, Dataclef. These losses did not impact distributions. As anticipated in 2020, SOCAN incurred an impairment of $28-million to the advances made by SOCAN to fund the subsidiary operations since 2016.

“Music has helped us through the pandemic, and music is helping us out of it,” Brown added. “The invaluable power of music to sustain and rejuvenate us has never been realized more than over the last 16 months.”

SOCAN added more than 7,500 new members in 2020, one of the largest years of membership growth in the organization’s history.

The company’s 2020 results, activities of 2021, and plans were discussed at SOCAN’s online annual general meeting for qualified members on July 13, 2021.

For an overview of SOCAN’s 2020 activities and financials, please visit www.socanannualreport.ca.