Photo by courtesy of / courtoisie de Music Canada. Left to right: Jennifer Sloane, Chair of Music Canada; Senator Dennis Dawson; Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Pablo Rodriguez; Chris Bittle, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage; Music Canada CEO Patrick Rogers; SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown. / De gauche à droite : Jennifer Sloane, présidente de Music Canada; le sénateur Dennis Dawson; ministre du Patrimoine canadien, l'honorable Pablo Rodriguez; Chris Bittle, Secrétaire parlementaire du ministre du Patrimoine canadien; Patrick Rogers, chef de la direction de Music Canada; Jennifer Brown, chef de la direction de la SOCAN.

SOCAN and Music Canada present 2022 edition of Music Night on The Hill

Story by Howard Druckman | Wednesday November 23rd, 2022

Savannah Ré, Aysanabe, Lili-Ann De Francesco

Left to right: Savannah Ré, Lili-Ann De Francesco, Aysanabee

Parliament Hill in Ottawa was rockin’ on Nov. 16, 2022, as Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, spoke of the important work that SOCAN does, and more than 200 Members of Parliament, Senators, and government staff attended the 2022 edition of SOCAN’s annual Parliamentary reception, this year held at Queen St. Fare.

The always-popular event allows federal officials learn more about SOCAN, and listen our members’ music, live. This year, Savannah Ré played songs from her JUNO Award-winning EP Opia; Aysanabee offered music from his freshly released Watin album; and Lili-Ann De Francesco performed her new single “Touch” for the first time, ahead of its release on Nov. 23, 2022. Each of them talked about how crucial SOCAN is to their livelihoods, and to those of our almost 180,000 members.

SOCAN partnered with Music Canada to present the reception this year, which was hosted by their respective CEOs, Jennifer Brown and Patrick Rogers. Jennifer Sloane, Chair of Music Canada, and Marc Ouellette, President of the SOCAN Board of Directors, both addressed the crowd to highlight the strength of the Canadian music ecosystem

We took the opportunity to emphasize the cultural and economic impact of SOCAN’s songwriters, composers, screen composers, and music publishers, both domestically and globally, and presented our policy positions to a wide range of federal government decision-makers.

On Facebook, Minister Rodriguez posted, “I’ve said it and I’ll say it again: Our music and musicians are the best in the world! At Music Night on The Hill, I was able to reaffirm our support for the music industry here at home. Thanks for the welcome and great performances!”

Photo by Grant W. Martin Photography (Beaches, DZL), SOCAN (Simon Wilcox & Lennon Stella). Left to right/De gauche à droite : 3/4 of/de The Beaches (Eliza Enman-McDaniel, Jordan Miller, Kylie Miller); DZL; Simon Wilicox, SOCAN's Racquel Villagante / de la SOCAN; Lennon Stella.

SOCAN presents No. 1 Song Awards to The Beaches, Lowell, DZL, Lennon Stella, Simon Wilcox

Story by Howard Druckman, with files from / avec la participation de Racquel Villagante | Wednesday November 23rd, 2022

SOCAN was pleased and proud to present SOCAN No. 1 Song Awards to The Beaches, Lowell, DZL, Lennon Stella, and Simon Wilcox, for their roles as co-writers of three songs that topped various charts in 2021 and 2022 – as follows:

“Grow Up Tomorrow,” performed by The Beaches, scaled the peak of the Billboard Canada Modern Rock chart on Sept. 12, 2022. The song was co-written by band members Eliza Enman-McDaniel, sisters Jordan and Kylie Mller, and Leandra Earl, along with singer and professional songwriter Lowell. SOCAN presented the award on Oct. 17, 2022, during the red carpet of the SOCAN Awards, held at the Sheraton Centre Hotel in Toronto.

At the same event, SOCAN presented a No. 1 Song Award to DZL (aka Michael Holmes), for “Pick Up Your Feelings,” performed by Jazmine Sullivan, which reached the zenith of the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay chart on March 20, 2021. The 2022 Grammy-winning song was co-written by Jazmine Sullivan and DZL, among other co-writers, and published by Warner Chappell Music Canada.

On Nov. 15, 2022, in Los Angeles, we presented a SOCAN No. 1 Song Award to Lennon Stella and Simon Willcox for co-writing – along with Malay (aka James Ho, ASCAP) – “Fancy,” which topped the CBC Music Top 20 Countdown on Nov. 25, 2021. “Fancy” is performed by Lennon Stella, and published by the Universal Music Publishing Group Canada, and the award was presented by SOCAN Creative Executive, West Coast, Racquel Villagante.

SOCAN congratulates all of the aforementioned members on these great achievements!

Photo by Brad Ardley

Video: Serena Ryder on dealing with social media feedback

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday November 22nd, 2022

Serena Ryder’s 2022 JUNO Award-winning album The Art of Falling Apart was inspired by her own keynote address, which acknowledged the need to face mental health issues as a first step toward wellness, and the perception of music as medicine. With this in mind, she speaks to the subject of dealing with social media feedback, as a songwriter releasing her deepest work into the world.

Serena Ryder video thumbnail

Click the image to watch the Serena Ryder interview