Photo by courtesy/courtoisie

SOCAN grieves the passing of Shirley Eikhard

Story by Howard Druckman | Thursday January 12th, 2023

SOCAN member, singer, and professional songwriter Shirley Eikhard died on Dec. 15, 2023 (while SOCAN was on hiatus), at the age of 67 , in Orangeville, ON, after a battle with cancer.

At age 15, Eikhard wrote “It Takes Time,” which became a No. 1 hit on Canadian Adult Contemporary radio charts for Anne Murray in 1971. That resulted in television appearances on The Anne Murray Special and The Tommy Hunter Show on CBC. Eikhard won two JUNO Awards, both for Female Country Artist of the Year, in 1973 and 1974, and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020. Her songs have been recorded by, or written for, the likes of Cher, Amy Grant, Rita Coolidge, and Emmylou Harris. Eikhard released 18 full-length albums between 1972 and 2021, and taught herself to play guitar, piano, bass, drums, percussion, chromatic harmonica, saxophone, banjo, and mandolin.

But her most widely recognized commercial success came from a song Eikhard wrote in the mid-‘80s while working in Nashville. Written in ab out 20  minutes, and pitched to artists for about seven years, “Something to Talk About” was recorded by Bonnie Raitt for her 1991 Luck of the Draw album, which enabled the American singer-songwriter and guitarist to further a commercial comeback begun two years earlier. “Something to Talk About” reached No. 5 on the Billboard U.S. singles chart, and was nominated for Record of the Year at the 1992 Grammy Awards. Raitt actually earned a Best Pop Vocal Performance Grammy for her recording of the song. “Something to Talk About” even inspired a 1995 Julia Roberts comedy-drama movie of the same name, in which she plays a woman who learns her husband is having an affair.

Eikhard was born in Sackville, NB, to parents who both played musical instruments, and music quickly became her lifelong passion. She was living in Oshawa, ON, by the time of her debut 1969 appearance at the Mariposa Folk Festival, as a young teen. By 1972, she’d shifted from folk to country pop, as she released her self-titled debut album. It included a version of Sylvia Tyson’s “Smiling Wine,” which garnered significant Canadian radio airplay, as did Eikhard’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Say You Love Me,” from 1976’s Let Me Down Easy.

There was a 10-year gap in her recorded output, from 1977 until 1987’s Taking Charge, as Eikhard dealt with voice issues. Still, during that time, she co-wrote a song, “Kick Start My Heart,” that was included on Alannah Myles’s self-titled 1989 hit album. Eikhard’s own first album after Bonnie Raitt’s cover greatly heightened her public profile — 1995’s If I Had My Way — saw her return to familiar musical territory. Then, three years later, she was recording for the legendary Blue Note jazz label. For Eikhard, it only natural, as she’d included Billie Holiday songs in her live performances for years.

As the years rolled on in the 2000s, Eikhard painted, released modest  but quality albums created largely on her own, and dedicated time to social causes, including animal rights and the environment. Her most recent full-length was 2021’s On My Way to You.

SOCAN extends its warmest condolences to Eikhard’s family, friends, fellow musicians, other colleagues in the music ecosystem, fans, and anyone who’s ever enjoyed her music.

The Breakdown: Playing and recording other peoples’ music

Story by Howard Druckman | Thursday January 12th, 2023

If you’re a music-maker, at some point in your process, you may want to use other peoples’ music – whether via sampling, recording a cover version, or in academic study, for example. In all cases, there’s a legal way to do that while respecting the copyright of, and ensuring fair compensation for, the original songwriter, or composer, and music publisher. Usually, it’s a matter of obtaining permission first.

Sampling
If you’re sampling a song, then both the copyright owner(s) of the recording of the song, and the copyright owner(s) of the song itself, must grant permission. So, for example, if you wanted to sample the  solo from Blue Rodeo’s “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet,” you’d have to get permission for use of the recording from Warner Music Canada, and for the use of the song from its co-writers, Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, and/or its publisher, Thunder Hawk Music.

Although in most cases when a music publisher is involved, they’ve been granted, by contract, the right to negotiate payment and provide permission on behalf of the songwriters or composers that they represent. If that’s the case with Cuddy and Keelor, then you’d obtain permission for all three rights holders in the song from Thunder Hawk Music.

Recording a Cover Version
If you wish to record a cover version of an original copyright-protected song, you have to get permission from the copyright holders of the song, but not the rights holders for the original recording of it. If, say, you want to re-arrange “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” – and possibly change where the solo of the song comes in, or add a verse – you’d have to get permission from the writers, Cuddy and Keelor, possibly via their publisher, Thunder Hawk Music, and from Thunder Hawk itself. The same is true if you want to record a cover version of the song.

Reproducing a Cover Version
Anyone wishing to copy their version of a copyright-protected song – on a pressing of 500 vinyl records, for instance, or an audio streaming service – must first seek the permission of the copyright owner(s) by obtaining a “mechanical” or reproduction rights license. For the same example of “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet,” you’d once again have to obtain permission for the song only, from its co-writers, possibly via their publisher, and from the publisher itself.

Third-Party Services
In all of the above cases, there are third-party services that can license songs on your behalf, for you to cover; but ultimately, permission must always be obtained from the copyright owners in the end – whether you yourself obtain it, or a third-party company obtains it for you. And you should always check thoroughly to ensure that any such company is operating legally and legitimately before engaging with them.

Fair Dealing
The Canadian term “fair dealing” is similar but not exactly the same as the American term “fair use.” In Canada, it means that copyright isn’t infringed when a part of a work is used for private study, research, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, or news reporting. Fair dealing is a case-by-case assessment, based on factors set out by the Canadian courts. So, for example, if you’re presenting a private seminar about songwriting, it’s possible that you could play “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” to illustrate or teach certain techniques – say, how to craft a great chorus – without having to obtain permission first.

Public Domain
In Canada, a song or composition enters the public domain 70 years after the year of the death of the last surviving writer, composer, lyricist, or author of the work. No fees are typically due if the song or composition in a performance are public domain. So, 70 years after the last surviving composer of “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” passes away – whether Jim Cuddy or Greg Keelor – the song will be in the public domain, and can then be recorded without any permission required.

For answers to other frequently asked questions about copyright, and how SOCAN works, have a look at our FAQs.

 

Photo by courtesy of The Government of Alberta/ courtoisie du gouvernement d'Alberta

SOCAN mourns the loss of Ian Tyson

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday January 10th, 2023

SOCAN is mourning the loss of iconic Canadian singer-songwriter Ian Tyson, who passed away on Dec. 29, 2022, at the age of 89 (while SOCAN was on hiatus).

Tyson was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989, and into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, as half of the duo Ian & Sylvia, in 1992. Tyson became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1994, and in 2003 he received a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. He was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2006, and in 2019, into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Tyson won a JUNO Award as Best Male Country Artist in 1987.

In 2005, CBC Radio One listeners chose Tyson’s signature tune, “Four Strong Winds,” as the greatest Canadian song of all time. Tyson has been a strong influence on many artists, including Neil Young, who recorded “Four Strong Winds” for his Comes a Time album in 1978. Johnny Cash also recorded the song for American V: A Hundred Highways in 2006. Tyson himself sang “Four Strong Winds” at the opening of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

Many in the Canadian music ecosystem remembered Tyson on social media. Fellow cowboy singer-songwriter Corb Lund said, on Facebook: “With a heavy heart, I learned of my old friend, Ian Tyson’s passing… Canada and the world has lost a legendary songwriter, performer, and lifelong advocate for the romance and reality of the West…”

Steve Kane, the former President of Warner Music Canada, said in a Facebook post: “Neither legend nor icon comes close to describing Ian Tyson. He is woven into the fabric of Canada. He brought our stories to the global stage. He helped keep the tradition of cowboy poetry alive…”

Charlie Angus, Member of Parliament and leader of the folk/roots combo Grievous Angels, posted on Facebook: “Ian Tyson defined Canadian folk music. He was a true original. He wrote so many incredible songs. ‘Four Strong Winds’ remains the defining Canadian song…”

Born a British Columbian in Victoria, and raised in Duncan, Tyson was a rodeo rider in Western Canada in his late teens and early twenties. He began to play guitar while recovering from an injury sustained in a bad fall in the rodeo. He hitchhiked to Toronto, and there met young singer Sylvia Fricker, with whom he formed a musical duo. As Ian & Sylvia, they were – along with Gordon Lightfoot, to whom Tyson was a mentor in Lightfoot’s early days – Canadian stars of the early-1960s folk boom that gave the world Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Joan Baez.

Married in 1964, the duo made almost a dozen albums, and wrote some of Canada’s best-loved songs, including Ian’s “Four Strong Winds”, “Someday Soon,” and “Summer Wages,” as well as Sylvia’s “You Were on My Mind” — songs covered countless times, including in versions by Dylan, the aforementioned Neil Young, Judy Collins, and more. As the ‘60s gave way to the ‘70s, Ian & Sylvia evolved into country-rock pioneers. Their band, The Great Speckled Bird, rivalled the Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers in creating a more current form of country music, while still respecting tradition.

After hosting a national Canadian television music show from 1970 to 1975, Tyson’s marriage to Sylvia ended, and he returned home to his first love – training horses in the ranch country of southern Alberta. After three years in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Tyson recorded the album Old Corrals & Sagebrush, consisting of cowboy songs, both traditional and new. Since the 1980s, Tyson released 15 albums on Stony Plain Records celebrating the cowboy life.

The cowboy renaissance blossomed at the inaugural Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 1983, where a small coterie of cowboys and cowboy-adjacent craftsmen assembled in a small town in Northern Nevada. Tyson was invited to perform his “new Western music,” and missed only one or two gatherings in the almost 40 years since.

Tyson, a member of ASCAP for most of his life, is survived by a son, Clayton, from his first marriage, and a daughter, Adelita, from his second. Donations in his memory can be made to The Ian Tyson Legacy Fund here. SOCAN extends its sincere condolences to Tyson’s family, friends, fans, and any who’ve ever enjoyed his music, worldwide.