SOCAN is pleased and proud to have been nominated for Organization of the Year in the 2024 Women in Music Canada (WIMC) Honours.
In spaces largely dominated by men, SOCAN is creating space for women and gender-diverse music creators and music business professionals to grow and succeed.
Our passion for music and the members we serve is at the core of everything we do.
We believe in the incredible talent of our women and gender-diverse music creator, composer and publisher members and work to create opportunities to grow their craft and industry connections.
In 2023, SOCAN was fortunate to have nearly 100 women participate in our domestic and international songwriter, composer, and sync songwriting camps. We celebrated the accomplishments of women songwriters with ten No. 1 song awards, nurtured the careers of many women SOCAN members through one-on-one support and education, and attended hundreds of performances by women SOCAN members.
We created partnerships with other music organizations to support their music careers, specifically a collaborative venture with the Canadian Consulate in Los Angeles focused on supporting women and gender-non-conforming writers and producers.
Under the leadership of Charlie Wall-Andrews, Executive Director at SOCAN Foundation, many initiatives have been created – such as the Her Music Awards, the TD Indigenous Songwriter Award, the SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards, Equity X Production Mentorship Program, and the TD Incubator for Creative Entrepreneurship – that showcase our support for marginalized communities and women in various aspects of the music industry, including business, songwriting, production, and music publishing.
The SOCAN-owned Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) is proud to hold a diverse roster of legendary women songwriter inductees. In 2023, the CSHF welcomed two powerful women into the Hall of Fame: global music icon Loreena McKennitt during the Women in Music Canada Honours, and Francophone rocker Marjo as part of the CSHF’s inaugural Legends event in Montreal.
Supporting women doesn’t stop with our members, but is embedded within the foundation of our company.
Our executive leadership is 58 percent women – including our Senior Vice President of People and Culture, our Chief Operating Officer, and our Chief Legal Counsel – and our staff is 51 percent women. SOCAN is currently led by the first woman CEO in its almost 100-year history, Jennifer Brown. In her nearly three decades at SOCAN, Brown has risen through the ranks, and is a model for leadership and growth for women and gender-diverse music business professionals, both at SOCAN and throughout the industry.
We have transparent pay practices, with regular formal reviews, to support women, gender-diverse individuals, and all employees, to ensure that they receive fair and equitable compensation. We’ve implemented progressive policies that support work-life balance through flexible scheduling and family-friendly initiatives, ensuring a conducive environment for all SOCAN employees.
We’ve also implemented a range of initiatives specifically designed to support the professional development and career advancement of women within the organization, as well as ongoing diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism programming that promotes belonging for our entire team.
“We’re grateful for the inspiring list of submissions that we received this year,” says WIMC Executive Director Robyn Stewart. “There are so many incredible women and gender-diverse creators and innovators doing important work in this industry, from those who have been breaking down barriers for decades, to others starting new, groundbreaking projects that deserve to be amplified. Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees.”
The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in downtown Toronto – where the honoured recipients will be recognized and celebrated, alongside showcase performances from Zaki Ibrahim, Maya Killtron, and more.