Photo by SOCAN. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Liam Russell, James Barker

SOCAN presents two No. 1 Song Awards to James Barker

Story by Howard Druckman | Monday November 13th, 2023

SOCAN Creative Executive, Nashville and Los Angeles, Liam Russell presented two SOCAN No. 1 Song Awards to James Barker, co-writer of two chart-topping country songs by the James Barker Band: “Meet Your Mama” and “Over All Over Again.” Russell awarded the trophies to Barker on Oct. 30, 2023, in Nashville.

“Meet Your Mama” scaled the peak of the Billboard Canada Country Chart on May 8, 2023, while “Over All Over Again” topped the same chart on Sept. 25, 2021. Both songs are co-written by Barker with fellow SOCAN members Todd Clark, Gavin Slate, and Travis Wood, and published by Trash Man Songs.

All of Barker’s co-writers were previously awarded for “Over All Over Again,” and will be honoured at a later date for “Meet Your Mama.”

SOCAN congratulates them all for two more chart-topping songs in their string of hits – another great achievement!

James Barker Band, Meet Your Mama, video

Select the image to play the YouTube video of the James Barker Band song “Meet Your Mama”

 

Photo by courtesy / courtoisie

Québec Cinéma Gala: Twelve SOCAN members nominated for Iris Award

Story by Eric Parazelli | Tuesday November 14th, 2023

On Nov. 14, 2023, Québec Cinéma revealed the list of nominees for the 2023 Iris Awards. Twelve SOCAN member screen composers are finalists in the Best Original Score and Best Original Score – Documentary categories.

The 2023 nominees for Best Original Score are:

  • Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux and Mathieu Charbonneau, for Viking – Publishers: Bravo Musique Éditions inc. / Meloscope
  • Daniel Bélanger, for Confessions – Publishers: Christian Larouche Marketing / Achille Cassel Édition
  • Dominique Plante, for Les chambres rouges
  • Martin Léon, for Tu te souviendras de moi – Publisher: Christian Larouche Marketing
  • Viviane Audet, Robin-Joël Cool, and Alexis Martin, for Arsenault et Fils – Publisher: Idea3 inc.

The nominees for Best Original Score – Documentary are:

  • Delphine Measroch, for Humus
  • Gervaise, for Gabor
  • Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis, for Au-delà des hautes vallées
  • Olivier Alary and Johannes Malfatti, for Twice Colonized
  • Walker Grimshaw, for Dear Audrey – Publisher: Cineclef Publishing

Stéphane Lafleur’s film Viking is the most honoured, with a total of 18 nominations. Other films dominating the tally include Monia Chokri’s Babysitter, with 14 nominations; Pascal Plante’s Les chambres rouges with 13 nods; Francis Leclerc’s Le plongeur with 12 of them; and Rafaël Ouellet’s Arsenault et fils, which is up for eight Iris Awards.

The 25th edition of the Gala Québec Cinéma will be broadcast live on Noovo and noovo.ca on Dec. 10, 2023. The Gala Artisans, where the musical awards will be presented, will be held on Dec. 7, 2023, at Studio TD in Montréal, and will be hosted by Fabiola Nyrva Aladin.

For the full list of nominees, access the Gala Québec Cinéma website. Congratulations and Good Luck to the nominees!

Photo by SOCAN

Discover next generation of great Canadian songwriters with 2023 SOCAN Songwriting Prize

Story by SOCAN | Thursday November 9th, 2023

SOCAN has announced the finalists for the 2023 SOCAN Songwriting Prize, celebrating the exceptional talent of Canadian emerging songwriters in 2022, as determined by music industry and journalism experts.  The 16 finalist songs exhibit the diversity and creativity of Canada, and fans can vote for their favourite now. 

 The SOCAN Songwriting Prize, and the equivalent Prix de la chanson SOCAN for Francophone songwriters, are the only major songwriting awards in Canada honouring the incredible talent of Canada’s emerging songwriters. 

“The SOCAN Songwriting prize highlights Canada’s next wave of great songwriters. From all corners of the country, they’re putting out tremendous bodies of work, reminding us how special it is to live amongst such culturally rich storytelling,“ said Jennifer Brown, SOCAN CEO. “This is why the Online Streaming Act is so important: we must continue to advocate for the support and promotion of our talent, ensuring that Canadians will always be able to create, and listen to, music that reflects their lived experience, now and in the future.“ 

 The English and French grand prize winners receive $10,000 each, a Yamaha musical instrument valued up to $2500 (minimum advertised price) and a $500 gift card from Long & McQuade.  

 The eight finalists for the SOCAN Songwriting Prize (English) are:  

  •  “always” – written by Felix Fox-Pappas, Chester Hansen, Eliza Niemi, Alexander Sowinski, Leland Whitty, Jonah Yano; performed by Jonah Yano; 
    Hansen, Sowinski, and Whitty published by Third Side Music Inc., Yano published by Secretly Canadian Publishing.  
  •  “Big Steppa” – written by Bolu Akande and Tosan Arenyeka; performed by aRENYE.  
  •  “Grab Your Guts” – written by Maylee Todd; performed by Maylee Todd.  
  •  “IF THERE’S NO SEAT IN THE SKY (WILL YOU FORGIVE ME???)” – written by Saya Gray; performed by Saya Gray;
    published by Saya Gray/Kobalt Music Publishing Canada.      
  •  “Levels” – written by Max Akres, Jeremy Alain, Corben Bowen, Zachary Djurich, Chris Larocca, Herag Sanbalian, Jacob Wilkinson-Smith; performed by Boslen. 
    Larocca published by Kilometre Music Group. All rights on behalf of Kilometre Music Group B administered by Warner Chappell Music Canada Ltd. 
  •  “Put ‘Em Down” – written by Jeffrey Maurice, Joshua Qaumariaq; performed by The Trade-Offs.  
  •  “Silver Into Rain” – written by Hannah Kim, Beatrice Laus; performed by Luna Li feat. beabadoobee.  
    Kim published by 88 Rising/Kobalt Music Publishing Canada. Laus published by Sony Music Publishing.  
  •  “STEPMOM” – written by Dacey Andrada, Justin Tecson; performed by Dacey.  

 Fans can vote daily in both the English and French competitions from Nov. 9 to 16, 2023, for their favourite song by the nominees, by visiting socansongwritingprize.ca.   The winning songs are scheduled to be announced the week of Nov. 20, 2023.  

 The eight song finalists for the 2023 Prix de la chanson SOCAN, the Francophone counterpart to the SOCAN Songwriting Prize, are:  

  • “Ton shift est pas fini” – written by Gabriel Bouchard, Mathieu Quenneville; performed by Gab Bouchard; published by Éditions Bravo Musique Inc.   
  •  “Depuis” – written by Lydia Képinski; performed by Lydia Képinski.  
  •  “Fille à porter” – written by Ariane Roy, Roxane Azzaria; performed by Ariane Roy, Lou-Adriane Cassidy.  
  •  “D’où c’que j’viens” – written by Simon Bolduc; performed by Bolduc tout croche.  
  •  “Lesbienne woke sur l’autotune” – written by Julie Gagnon, Charles Gaudreau-Lerhe; performed by Calamine.  
  •  “Tintagel” – written by Lysandre Ménard; performed by Lysandre.  
  •  “C00N” – written by Shamyr Daléus, Nicholas Craven; performed by Raccoon; published by Disques RER Inc..  
  •  “Attiser le dilemme” – written by Rose–Emmanuelle Brassard, Joannie Michaud, Frédéric Levac; performed by Rosie Valland; published by Secret City Publishing.   

 Every year, two independent panels, each comprising 10 music industry influencers, nominate long lists of 30 English and 30 French songs by emerging Canadian songwriters and composers, released in the previous year, that they feel are artistically superior and meet eligibility criteria. All long-listed songs are then voted on by the panels to determine each list of eight finalists in English and French. SOCAN does not have a role in determining nominees or winners.