Photo by Brad Ardley

The Weeknd, Tate McRae, Avril Lavigne lead 2023 JUNO Award nominations

Story by Howard Druckman | Wednesday February 1st, 2023

The Weeknd is nominated for a leading six JUNO Awards in 2023, while Tate McRae and Avril Lavigne have earned five nominations each. All of them are running in four key categories: Single, Album, and Pop Album of The Year, as well as the Fan Choice Award. Both The Weeknd and McRae are also nominated for the Songwriter of the Year Award, presented by SOCAN, while The Weeknd and Lavigne earned nods as well for Artist of the Year.

Close behind with three nominations apiece are Preston Pablo, Rêve, The Reklaws, NAV, and Shawn Mendes – all of them earnking the nod for the Fan Choice Award – except NAV, the only one of this grouping who’s nominated for Album of the Year, and Banx & Ranx, nominated for Single, Breakthrough Group, and Producer of the Year.

The nominees for the Songwriter of the Year Award, presented by SOCAN, are:

  • The Weeknd
  • Faouzia
  • Tate McRae
  • Tenille Townes
  • TOBi

Aysanabee, Alexisonfire, and Jessie Reyez will be joining the already-confirmed performers for the 2023 Gala JUNO Awards ceremony on Monday, March 13: Nickelback, Tate McRae, Tenille Townes, AP Dhillon, and Banx & Ranx with Preston Pablo and Rêve. The show will be broadcast live from Rogers Place in Edmonton, on CBC, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, the free CBC Gem streaming service in Canada, and globally at www.cbcmusic.ca/junos.

The nominations for Classical Composition of the Year are:

  • Anthony Tan for An Overall Augmented Sense of Well-Being
  • Bekah Simms for Bestiary I & II
  • Keyan Emami for The Black Fish
  • Nicole Lizée for Prayers for Ruins
  • Vincent Ho for Supervillain Études

Francophone Album of the Year nominees are:

  • Ariane Roy for medium plaisir
  • Daniel Bélanger for Mercure en mai
  • Hubert Lenoir for PICTURA DE IPSE : Musique directe
  • Les Louanges for Crash
  • Lisa LeBlanc for Chiac Disco

In addition to presenting the Songwriter of the Year Award, SOCAN is once again the co-presenting sponsor (with FACTOR) of the JUNO Songwriters’ Circle – widely known as “The Jewel of the JUNO Week” – with host and performers TBD. Past participants include Paul Brandt, Alex Cuba, Ria Mae, Randy Bachman, Shad, July Talk, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jann Arden, Joel Plaskett, Johnny Reid, Ron Sexsmith, and Dan Mangan.

For a complete list of award nominees, visit the JUNO Awards website.

SOCAN recognizes Black History Month

Story by SOCAN | Wednesday February 1st, 2023

In honor of Black History Month, we’re creating content on our platforms throughout February 2023 to highlight historical contributions of Black Canadians in music — just as we recognize history-making Black music year-round at www.socanmagazine.ca.

Photo by courtesy / courtoisie. Left to right/De gauche à droite : AHI, Adria Kain, Nonso Amadi, Zach Zoya, Desarae Dee

SOCAN Foundation announces winners of 2022 Black Canadian Music Awards

Story by SOCAN Foundation / Fondation SOCAN | Wednesday February 1st, 2023

The SOCAN Foundation has announced the five recipients of the 2022 SiriusXM Black Canadian Music Awards, created to recognize and celebrate the artistic merit demonstrated by Black music creators: Adria Kain, AHI, Desarae Dee, Nonso Amadi and Zach Zoya, each of whom will receive $10,000 (double last year’s amount) to support their development.

Special distinctions and awards of $1,000 are also being made to City Fidelia, Haley Smalls, Leila Day, Promise, and Shreez.

To listen to the music of all of the 2022 winners, click here.

“What an honour to participate in amplifying Black creatives. So many of the submissions were incredible, making this the hardest jury process to date,” said Keziah Myers, Executive Director at ADVANCE Music Canada, and chair of the jury. “I learned of writers and composers that I didn’t know about, automatically looked up their projects, and it inspired me to think of ways to amplify them within the industry, and provide more vehicles for opportunity. Congratulations to the winners!” Myers was part of the SOCAN  Foundation committee that created the Black Canadian Music Awards, and has also served as a jury member for the last three years.

This year, the Awards had a record number of applications from artists across Canada, spanning a multitude of genres. Winners were selected by a jury and advisory council of prominent Black artists and industry leaders. Jury members include Keziah Myers (Executive Director at Advance), Nicolas Ouellet (Radio Host at Radio-Canada), Lord Quest (Executive Creative, Black Music, at SOCAN), Marika Siewert (Recording Artist) and Wayne Samuels (President and CEO at Wired Management Inc).

“We’re so proud to help bring this program to life for a third year, and to double the prize money for these incredibly talented and deserving recipients,” said Michelle Mearns, VP, Programming & Operations, SiriusXM Canada. “SiriusXM is committed to supporting Black Canadian artists, and I can’t wait to see what these artists create in the future.”

For more information about the SOCAN Foundation, please visit www.socanfoundation.ca.