Photo by Marie-Michèle Bouchard

SOCAN recognizes Black Music, Pride, and Indigenous History months in June 2023

Story by SOCAN | Thursday June 1st, 2023

In June 2023, SOCAN honours the contributions and impact of Black music creators, Indigenous peoples, and the LGBTQ2S+ community, all of whom have played important roles in shaping the history, culture, and heritage of our country, and the world.

In recognition of Black Music Month, Pride Month, and National Indigenous History Month and National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21), SOCAN will share both new and recent feature stories, profiles, and personal columns of our members from these vibrant, crucial communities.

We’ll continue to support the contributions of BIPOC and LGBTQ2S+ peoples in Words & Music, and on our social media channels. Please stay tuned for more this month – and every month.

Photo by Benoit Rousseau and/et Frédérique Ménard-Aubin. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Plume, Banx & Ranx, Ginette Reno, Nathalie Bonin, Roxane Bruneau

Video: Red Carpet Interviews from 2023 SOCAN Gala – Part 1

Story by Eric Parazelli | Wednesday June 7th, 2023

The 2023 SOCAN Gala took place on May 7 at La Tohu in Montréal. Here’s Part 1 of the interviews we conducted on the red carpet during that memorable evening.

 

The great Plume Latraverse received the Lifetime Achievement Award. The “bad boy” of the Québec music industry is naturally discreet, and usually shuns media availabilities, but he did agree to chat with us on the red carpet to discuss his unusual career. Working in the margins of the industry, Plume has nonetheless left an indelible mark on the Francophone music world with his “old, crooked tunes.”

Plume Latraverse, Gala SOCAN, 2023

Click on the image to play the Plume Latraverse video interview from the 2023 SOCAN Gala

 

Success and awards are piling up for Montréal-based duo Banx & Ranx, made up of Zacharie “SOKE” Raymond and Yannick “KNY FACTORY” Rastogi. They’re behind hits by international star Sean Paul, as well as homegrown artists like La Zarra, Rêve, Preston Pablo, Zach Zoya, Marie-Mai and many others. Everyone wants to work with them! They stepped onstage several times during the Gala, winning the Anglophone Popular Music Award (for “Flowers Need Rain,” performed by Preston Pablo); the International Award (for “Tu t’en iras,” performed by La Zarra); and the prestigious Songwriter Award – Non-Performer. Here’s a snippet of their entertaining acceptance speech, and their thoughts from the red carpet.

Banx & Ranx, Gala SOCAN, 2023

Click on the image to play the Banx & Ranx video interview from the SOCAN Gala


Ginette Reno has left a permanent mark on Québec, and continues to do so, having just released her 42nd album. Her career path is full of important encounters with songwriters, who she says have given her the greatest gifts, and “taught her how to live.” That career is now celebrated with a Special Achievement Award. We caught up with her after this emotional moment to discuss, among other things, her special relationship with the creators of her songs.

Ginette Reno, Gala SOCAN, 2023

Click on the image to play the Ginette Reno video interview from the 2023 SOCAN Gala

 

In a world dominated by men, Nathalie Bonin is one of the most active screen composers in recent years – and one of the most rewarded as well. Among the international honours she’s earned over the past two years are a 2022 award and nomination at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards; being a 2022 finalist at the Music+Sound Awards; an award and nomination at the Mark Awards; and two awards for her scoring work for the documentary Women Warriors: The Voice of Change. Small wonder she was honoured at the Gala with the Screen Composer of the Year Award.

Nathalie Bonin, Gala SOCAN, 2023

Click on the image to play the Nathalie Bonin video interview from the 2023 SOCAN Gala

 

This year’s SOCAN Songwriter Award – Performer went to a duo who seem to have found a recipe for success, since every one of their radio singles has topped the charts, at one point or another. With their song “À ma manière” having accumulated more than  three million views on YouTube, and the song “Partout” having just passed the million-view mark, and with nearly 60,000 copies sold of the album Acrophobie, Roxane Bruneau and Mathieu Brisset more than deserved their SOCAN Gala honour! We caught up with them on the red carpet to find out more about their creative bond.

Roxanne Bruneau, Mathieu Brisset, Gala SOCAN, 2023

Click on the image to play the Roxanne Bruneau video interview from the 2023 SOCAN Gala

 

CISAC 2023 Annual Report highlights global efforts to support creators

Story by Howard Druckman | Wednesday May 31st, 2023

CISAC published its 2023 Annual Report on May 25, 2023, providing an overview of its work to support 227 member collective management organizations (CMOs) throughout the world – which cumulatively manage the rights of more than five million creators in the fields of music, audio-visual (film, TV, and online productions), visual arts, drama, and literature.

Download the 2023 CISAC Annual Report

In addition to updates on its technology, legal, and lobbying services, the report highlights successful CISAC projects in Greece and Turkey that are helping to turn around previously challenged markets and increase collections for creators.

The report also shows progress in extending the adoption of the ISWC as a required music works identifier for metadata, a top priority for the CISAC network, aimed at ensuring fair and accurate remuneration for creators in the streaming world.

The document outlines CISAC’s lobbying actions in multiple countries to promote stronger laws protecting creators and rights holders. It also provides an update on the solidarity actions taken by the CISAC community through its global initiative, “Creators for Ukraine” – which has contributed EUR 1.4 million to individual creators, and charities that help victims of the war.

Forewords by CISAC President Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA), Board Chair Marcelo Castello Branco, and Director General Gadi Oron set out CISAC’s current priorities and strategic vision for the future. These include the rapidly growing impact of artificial intelligence (AI), and CISAC’s campaign for more fairness in remuneration from the streaming market.

“Participating in CISAC initiatives is crucial to SOCAN, and beneficial to all our members,” says SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown. “As one of two Vice-Chairs of the CISAC Board of Directors, I can share a Canadian viewpoint on widespread issues, with CMOs from around the world, and contribute to leveraging new opportunities. With copyright going increasingly digital and crossing international borders, changing our ways of operating, it’s more crucial than ever for SOCAN to be involved in this large music ecosystem, and its ongoing conversations about the future of collective management.

“With this report, CISAC has left nobody behind. We collectively take action to preserve a robust copyright market, to protect creators’ rights, and to promote collective management vision, worldwide, with equal involvement from form the smallest markets to the biggest ones.”

In his foreword, Oron says, “The pandemic may be over, but it’s anything but ‘business as usual’ for the CISAC network. The shift to digital is spurring collections growth globally, but at the same time posing unprecedented new challenges to the operations of many societies. In this context, CISAC continues to work relentlessly to help deliver collections growth and provide essential business services to our members.”

The report also covers CISAC’s support for a campaign furthering the un-waivable right of remuneration for audio-visual authors, and outlines CISAC’s continued lobbying for international implementation of the resale right for visual artists.

The CISAC General Assembly takes place June 1, 2023, in Mexico City.