Submit now for SOCAN Publisher of the Year Award

Story by SOCAN | Monday October 28th, 2019

The 2020 edition of the SOCAN Awards in Toronto will salute the remarkable work of Anglophone music publishers with the fourth annual Publisher of the Year Award. Publishers are invited to submit their nominations starting today, until the deadline of Nov. 22, 2019.

To be eligible, a publisher must be based in Canada, and their repertoire must be in large part Anglophone, or having had a significant Anglophone impact, creatively and commercially. A publisher with a representative who sits on the selection committee is not eligible for this award.

The award recognizes a publisher member who contributed in a significant and positive manner to the music industry and creative community during the year prior to the year of the next SOCAN Awards.

The eligibility period for the 2020 edition of the SOCAN Awards is from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2019, and only the accomplishments which occurred during this period will be taken into consideration. A jury of music industry professionals will evaluate all the nominations.

Eligible publishers must submit nominations to SOCAN’s Events Team, at events@socan.com, no later than Nov. 22, 2019, at 5:00 p.m., EST. The Publisher of the Year Award will be presented during the SOCAN Awards in Toronto on Monday, March 30, 2020, at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto. Publishers can download the submission form here.

Photo by Marie-Michèle Bouchard. Left to right / De gauche à droite : Pierre Lapointe, Alexandra Stréliski, Dominique Fils-Aimé, Les Louanges

ADISQ: Fair Compensation for Creators: What do we do now?

Story by Eric Parazelli | Monday October 28th, 2019

SOCAN member Pierre Lapointe hosted the Premier Gala de l’ADISQ on Oct. 23, 2019, at Montréal’s MTELUS, and he’s embarked on a mission to remind the relevant government agencies that it’s urgent to act if we want music creators to be compensated fairly for their work.

He talked about this when he appeared on the popular talk show Tout le monde en parle as well as on the French CBC’s ICI Première station, during his opening number at the Premier Gala de l’ADISQ, and during his presentation of the Album of the Year – Pop award at the Sunday night gala.

We caught up with him in the press room of the Premier Gala and asked him to explain his position, and offer concrete measures to break the deadlock that has gripped the Québec music ecosystem for several years. This gridlock is in part caused by new technologies, and the shift in the ways consumers listen to music with the arrival of streaming platforms, as well as the refusal of DSPs to give back a reasonable portion of their revenue to creators who feed them the cultural content on which they depend.

We also followed up on this question with other SOCAN members to ask them where they stand on this issue. What do we do now? How do we get more revenue? Is it possible to make a living as a musician in 2019? You’ll hear answers from Robert Nelson, Les Louanges, KNLO, Claude Bégin, Dominique Fils-Aimé, Alexandra Stréliski, Millimetrik, Elisapie, Wesli, and Hubert Lenoir.

Photo by Marie-Michèle Bouchard

Gala de l’ADISQ : Alexandra Stréliski wins two more honours

Story by Eric Parazelli | Monday October 28th, 2019

It was no secret that Alexandra Stréliski stood very good chances of winning Félix Awards last night, and she didn’t leave the 41st edition of the Gala de l’ADISQ empty-handed. She didn’t have to write lyrics in order for her album Inscape to win the prestigious Author or Composer of the Year Félix Award, and she also won Breakout Artist of the Year, for a total of three, including the Album of the Year – Instrumental honour she won during the Premier Gala de l’ADISQ last Wednesday.

SOCAN met her backstage at the Gala just after she won her two awards, where she explained her acceptance words – “One must not underestimate the power of softness” – for her first award, and talked about the evocative power of her music, which was sufficient enough to win her the Author or Composer of the Year award, without lyrics (see left).

Among the other big winners of the evening were Cœur de pirate, who walked away with two major awards, namely Album of the Year – Pop, and Female Artist of the Year, while Loud was the Male Artist of the Year. Florent Vollant won the inaugural Native Artist of the Year. Roxane Bruneau won the Song of the Year Félix award for “Des p’tits bouts de toi,” and Alaclair Ensemble won the Rap Album of the Year award. Fred Pellerin’s album Après won Folk Album of the Year. Michel Rivard received the Show of the Year – Singer-Songwriter Award for his autobiographical one-man show L’origine de mes espèces while Bleu Jeans Bleu capped a whirlwind year by winning the Group or Duo of the Year honour. Ginette Reno won the Album of the Year – Adult Contemporary.

For a complete list of the evening’s winners, visit the ADISQ website.