Photo by Brad Ardley. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Tommy K.W. Lam, NIIVA, Houtan Hodania of/de la SOCAN

SOCAN presents No. 1 Song Award to NIIVA

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday September 19th, 2023

SOCAN presented NIIVA (aka Gabriela Geneva) with a No. 1 Song Award for co-writing “Black Mamba” –  a worldwide pop smash K-Pop hit recorded as the debut single by the South Korean girl group aespa – which reached the top of the pop charts in 16 countries, and  K-Pop charts in 28 countries, worldwide, according to SoundCharts.

“Black Mamba” was released on aespa’s Girls album in July of 2022, which went to No.1 on the Billboard World Album Chart, Top Album Sales Chart, and Top Current Album Sales Chart on July 23, 2022. It reached No.3 on the Billboard 200 Chart as well.

“Black Mamba” also reached 10 million views on YouTube in 9 hours, and smashed a YouTube record for a K-Pop debut, with 21.4 million views in the first 24 hours. It also garnered 50 million views more than five million streams on Spotify in less than a week. The music video for the song is currently sitting at a staggering 253 million views.

The song is published by VLVT TREE Publishing / Warner Chappell and peermusic, and co-written by Scott Chesak and Danielle Draizin (both BMI); Michael Fonseca (aka Omega), Shaun Lopez, and Jordan Reyes (aka Jeordi) (all three ASCAP); and Yoo Young-jin (N/A).

SOCAN Creative Executive Houtan Hodania presented the award to NIIVA (and her manager, Tommy K.W. Lam) on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, during her interview with eTalk at the CTV studios in downtown Toronto.

SOCAN congratulates NIIVA on this great achievement!

NIIVA, Black Mamba, aespa
Select the image to play the YouTube video of the aespa song “Black Mamba,” co-written by NIIVA

 

Photo by Marie-Michèle Bouchard. Left to right / De gauche à droite : Eric Parazelli (SOCAN), Martin Roy, Luc Sicard, Kim Gaboury

SOCAN X Gémeaux panel discussion – Composing for television: better as a team or solo?

Story by Eric Parazelli | Wednesday September 20th, 2023

SOCAN panel, Gemeaux, 2023SOCAN presented a panel, La musique à l’image pour la télé : créer en solo ou en tandem?, as part of the Salon des membres of the Prix Gémeaux of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, on Sept. 12, 2023, at the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montréal. SOCAN invited Martin Roy, Luc Sicard, and Kim Gaboury, the screen composers with the most nominations in the two musical categories at the Gémeaux, to speak in front of a packed audience of television professionals. The discussion was moderated by Eric Parazelli, Editor of SOCAN’s online magazine Paroles & Musique, and manager of Francophone communications at SOCAN.

The screen-composing duo of Martin Roy and Luc Sicard (nominated in the Best Original Score: Fiction or Documentary category for La Faille and Larry, and in the Best Musical Theme: All Categories for Larry) discussed the advantages of working together with their colleague Kim Gaboury (nominated in the Best Original Score: Fiction or Documentary category for Classé Secret, and in the Best Musical Theme: All Categories for both Classé Secret and Les Histoires bizarres du professeur Zarbi), who works mainly as a solo composer, but has experimented working as a duo with his mentor, Michel Cusson.

SOCAN panel, Gemeaux, 2023

Select the image to play the French-only YouTube video of the SOCAN panel at the 2023 Gémeaux Awards. An English-subtitled version will be posted shortly.

The fascinating discussion focused on the creative aspects of their respective nominated productions, as well as the increased efficiency of working in tandem, and the relative freedom of solo composition. All three SOCAN members also discussed the main reasons why composers work in teams, which is often out of obligation, lack of time, to share the pressure, and because of the increasingly restricted budgets affecting Québec television productions – often to the detriment of the working conditions of screen composers.

These are a few of the topics covered in the video excerpt of the panel, on the right.

SOCAN extends its warmest thanks to the panelists, the organizers of the Salon des membres des prix Gémeaux of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and the many members of the audience who were able to interact with the participants during the Q&A period that followed the discussion.

Photo by courtesy of/courtoisie de Peter Chapman

Peter Chapman earns five nominations in 2023 Canadian Screen Music Awards

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday September 19th, 2023

Screen Composer Peter Chapman has earned five nominations, while his fellow SOCAN #ComposersWhoScore Steph Copeland, Spencer Creaghan, and the duo of Brian and Caleb Chan have earned three apiece, in the second annual Canadian Screen Music Awards (The CASMAs), presented by the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC). These awards honour composers for their outstanding work in media and screen-based industries, and are the first to be juried and awarded by fellow composers in Canada.

For the 2023 edition of the event, a total of 52 musical works received nominations in 11 categories, covering feature film, television, animation, documentary, games, and interactive media. Nominees were selected by the SCGC’s roster of jurors, and the winners will be announced live at the 2023 CASMAs ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, at El Mocambo in downtown Toronto.

The nominated music creators are:

Best Original Main Title Theme Music (Sponsored by SOCAN)

  • Andrew Lockington – Mayor Of Kingstown
  • Brian Chan & Caleb Chan – Builder Brothers Dream Factory
  • Brian Kobayakawa – Jackals & Fireflies
  • Justin Delorme – Diaspora
  • Layal Watfeh – Under Guardianship – Taht Al Wisaya

Best Original Song (Sponsored by Music Publishers Canada)

  • Alexandra Petkovski & Kris Kovacs – “Deathloop: Déja Vu Remix”
  • Craig McConnell – “The Bullet or The Blade”
  • Jesse Zubot, Wayne Lavallee & Marie Clements – “You Are My Bones”
  • Spencer Creaghan & Milen Petzelt Sorace – “My Little Pony Make Your Mark”
  • Stephen Krecklo & Ashley Jane – “How Lucky Am I?”

 Best Original Score, Animated Series or Special

  • Caleb Chan & Brian Chan – Pinecone and Pony: The Sturdy Stone
  • Erica Procunier – The Mystery of Lookout Mountain (Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go)
  • Neil Parfitt – Super Wish: The Legend of Cake-Bun Bottom
  • Peter Chapman – Happy House of Frightenstein: Lucky Spell
  • Spencer Creaghan & Neil Parfitt – Matchbox Adventures: Season 3

Best Original Score, Comedy Series or Special

  • John Rowley – Pretty Hard Cases: Always A Bridesmaid
  • Peter Chapman – The Lake: Midsommar Madness
  • Peter Chapman & Maylee Todd – Workin’ Moms: The End

Best Original Score, Documentary, Factual, Reality Series or Special

  • Andrew Gordon Macpherson – Tales From The Territories: Andy Kaufman vs. The King of Memphis
  • Ben Fox – The Climate Baby Dilemma
  • Justin Delorme – The Nature of Things: Grizzly Rewild
  • Peter Chapman – Cross Country Cake Off: Holiday Finale
  • Peter Chapman – Mary Makes it Easy: Overnight Guests

Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature Film

  • Agatha Kasper – The Long Weekend
  • Ben Fox – Cynara
  • Jonathan Kawchuk – True Survivors
  • Mark Dolmont – Satan Wants You
  • Stéphanie Hamelin Tomala – J’ai placé ma mère (I Lost My Mom)

Best Original Score, Dramatic Series or Special (Sponsored by DGC National)

  • Ari Posner, Amin Bhatia & Joel Schwartz – Ride: Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
  • Caleb Chan & Brian Chan – Panhandle: Machetes Out
  • Jeff Danna – Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities: Graveyard Rats
  • Lora Bidner and Rob Carli – Ruby and the Well: I Wish The Well Would Let Us Be Forever
  • Spencer Creaghan – Slasher: Ripper – The Slaughterhouse

Best Original Score for Games and Interactive Media

  • Andrea Wettstein & Alec Harrison – Windborne: Call of the Canadian Rockies
  • Blake Matthews – Tiny Colony
  • Janal Bechthold – Loki’s Castle
  • Jim Guthrie – Nobody Saves The World

Best Original Score for a Narrative Feature Film (Sponsored by Orchestral Tools)

  • Michelle Osis – Fixation
  • Steph Copeland – Laced
  • Steph Copeland – Outpost
  • Todor Kobakov – Brother
  • Tom Third – The Young Arsonists

Best Original Score for a Short Film (Sponsored by Cinesamples)

  • Amin Bhatia – Jane Goodall’s Reasons for Hope
  • Blake Matthew – Nahuales
  • Daniela Pinto – Diaspora
  • Noora Nakhaei – Printemps
  • Suad Bushnaq – Corvine

Best Original Score for a Television Special

  • Adrian Ellis – Love in Wolf Creek
  • Kristjan Bergey – Swindler Seduction
  • Medhat Hanbali – Queen Rising
  • Sean Nimmons-Paterson & Stephen Krecklo – Hotel for the Holidays
  • Steph Copeland – Designing Christmas

SOCAN congratulates all of the nominees on this great honour!