The Kitsilano Ballroom at the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver (this year’s JUNO host hotel) was a buzzing hive of activity throughout JUNO weekend, March 28-30, 2025, as it became SOCAN HQ – where we hosted a handful of essential education sessions and social events for our members under the SOCAN Academy banner.
The HQ opened up on the afternoon of Friday, March 28, allowing the members of the Young Music Professionals (YMP) organization to hold roundtable discussions with industry leaders.
On Saturday March 29, in a morning panel – Deep Dive: Music Marketing & Monetization in a Social Media Era – Mauricio Ruiz (co-founder, 8 Til Faint, The Manager’s Playbook) and recording artist/songwriter ROCHESTER (Stay Sharp Music/DDHD podcast) spoke with SOCAN Creative Executive, Black Music, Lord Quest on their musical journeys, discussing marketing, the role of social media, monetizing intellectual property, content strategies, brand deals, and building a fanbase. The session focused on showing up as your authentic self on social media, and whether music videos are still worth making in the current day and age.
In the afternoon of the same day, Building Bridges: Navigating Sync & Licensing in the U.S. Market – Co-presented by JUNOs and Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles – found U.S.-based music industry representatives discussing their relationship with Canadian counterparts, working with artists and creators, and handling intellectual property. The panelists were Connie Howell, VP, Creative Music Strategy, Paramount; Livy Rodriguez-Behar, Founder/Music Supervisor, Dreamboat Music; Robert Kraft, SOCAN L.A. Ambassador, and CEO, Kraftbox Entertainment; and Yvonne Drazan, VP, Latin West Coast, peermusic. The moderator was Andre Galuban, Creative Industries Trade Commissioner – Head of Music, Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles. Participants spoke about the vast variety of music in Canada, and tips to help Canadians sync their music internationally — such as making sure to clear your cover versions before pitching them to a music supervisor.
On Sunday March 30, at another morning gathering, The Fine Print: AI, Catalogues & the Future of Music Rights, industry experts discussed the evolving music industry landscape, and protecting creative assets, in the face of AI, catalogue acquisitions, and shifting legal frameworks. Panelists were Fraser Turnbull (who also moderated the session), Legal Counsel, SOCAN; Jessica Zagar, Partner, Cassels; Matthew Gorman, Partner, Cox & palmer Law; Miro Oballa, Partner, Taylor Oballa Murray Leyland; and Susan Abramovitch, Partner/Head, Entertainment & Sports Law Group. Gowling WLG. Panelists spoke about how AI licensing in various aspects could work, ethically created AI databases, and why AI catalogue sales have been prevalent, as well as ways to partially sell catalogues so that you don’t sell all your rights.
Later the same day, SOCAN HQ hosted the Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) Social, an industry mixer, and also yielded the space for a brief update from Revelios on the Soundcheck Mental Health Survey of the Canadian music ecosystem.