Photo by Brad Ardley via Zoom

Video Interview: Snotty Nose Rez Kids create Life After

Story by Howard Druckman | Monday December 13th, 2021

Formed in 2016, the Haisla Nation hip-hop duo Snotty Nose rez Kids, from Kitimat, B.C. – composed of rappers Yung Trybez (Quinton Nyce) and Young D (Darren Metz) – have won both Best Hip-Hop Artist and Breakout Artist at the Western Canadian Music Awards; have been shortlisted twice, back-to-back, for the Polaris Prize; and have earned a JUNO Award nomination. Now they’re starting to swim in the mainstream, with coverage in the Toronto Star and on the CTV National News, and headlining performances in the U.S.

In a video interview with SOCAN just after the release of their new album Life After, SNRK talk about surviving the past few years, how their personal is automatically political, and following in the footsteps of giants.

Click the image to watch the video by Snotty Nose Rez Kids

Click the image to watch the video by Snotty Nose Rez Kids

 

Photo by SOCAN. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Kathryn Hamilton, Michael Assante, Houtan Houdania, Sara Dendane

SOCAN A&R Department now known as “Creative”

Story by SOCAN | Monday December 13th, 2021

For several years now, the A&R Team at SOCAN has been one of the first points of contact for members to develop new relationships with us, nurture existing ones, and receive information about our core member benefits. The team has been re-imagined, and consequently re-named “Creative” (effective January 1, 2022), with Kathryn Hamilton now serving as Director, Creative Operations & Programming, and Michael Asante and Houtan Hodania now serving as Creative Executives.  Sara Dendane has been promoted to Creative & Partnerships Executive, Quebec.

“We’re constantly evolving, with the changing needs of our members and clients as our primary driver,” said Vanessa Thomas, Vice President, Member & Industry Relations. “A&R is just a part of what the Creative team does. The recruitment element doesn’t encompass all the creative activities they perform.  If you look at Global PROs their Creative teams are either ‘Creatives’ or ‘Membership.’”

Kathryn Hamilton will work with Thomas on the overall operational and strategic direction of the Creative Team. Kathryn joined SOCAN in 2016 and has played a vital role, overseeing three SOCAN Awards shows, programming that includes a host of No. 1 SOCAN Song Awards celebrations, and song camps and partnerships across Canada. Michael Asante was promoted to Creative Executive, Rap and R&B, and Houtan Hodania to Creative Executive, Vancouver.  Both joined SOCAN in the last three years and have demonstrated incredible and deep network connections.  Sara Dendane will expand her role to assist with key Québec partnerships, as she has vast experience in this area.

In addition, we’ve adjusted the titles for SOCAN staff  on the Creative team to more accurately reflect their roles, moving forward:

  • Maria Escamilla, Creative Programming & Partnerships Co-ordinator
  • Gagan Singh, Creative Executive, Film/TV, Visual Media
  • Racquel Villagante, Creative Executive, Los Angeles

Stephanie Falco’s Québec Events Manager title remains unchanged.

Thomas is also recruiting for a new vital team member, at the Director level, who will work with Kathryn to manage the Creative team.

Photo by SCGC

Cue-Sheet-Palooza Hackathon

Story by SCGC and SOCAN | Thursday December 9th, 2021

The Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC) and SOCAN will host the Cue-Sheet-Palooza Hackathon, to be held in-person on Apr. 9-10, 2022, in Toronto. This one-of-a-kind event will provide software developers and designers, along with music and tech-industry mentors, the opportunity to showcase their creativity to not only re-think, but re-define the cue sheet process for screen composers and music publishers.

Partnering with the SCGC and SOCAN on the Hackathon are the Canada Council for the Arts, the Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC), the Société professionelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ), the SOCAN Foundation, Music Publishers Canada (MPC), the Canadian Guild of Music Supervisors (CGMS), and Devpost.

Cue sheets are lengthy documents that identify all of the music and its stakeholders in a particular screen production, in order to accurately distribute royalties; the process of using them has proven tedious and outdated. The Cue-Sheet-Palooza Hackathon will offer an opportunity to revolutionize how royalties are paid to music stakeholders for screen productions.

John Welsman, President of the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, said, “Cue Sheets are the means by which music creators register their musical works in audio-visual productions. They contain all of the information necessary to track and pay out performing and reproduction rights royalties to composers, songwriters, and music publishers. These royalties provide financial stability to the often unpredictable livelihoods of music creators, allowing them to keep doing what they do so well – creating music!”

“We’re only just beginning to realize the potential of technology to allow music creators to receive what they’ve rightfully earned from their work,” said SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown. “This hackathon is an opportunity to bring speed and accuracy to what traditionally has been an extremely complicated process, and SOCAN is excited to see the results.”

Developer teams will use sponsor APIs (application program interfaces) or SDKs (software development toolkits) and other technology, to create a more efficient, user-friendly payment process for music professionals. Musiio, AI for the music industry, and Jaxsta, the world’s largest public-facing, dedicated database of official music credits, are the initial technology partners. SOCAN will also introduce its much-anticipated Cue Sheet API, billed as a game-changer for music creators and stakeholders.

The event will be judged by a roster of industry veterans, including award-winning screen composer Amin Bhatia; VP of CONNECT Music Licensing Catherine Jones; Executive Director of the SOCAN Foundation Charlie Wall-Andrews;​​ Senior Manager of Broadcast Operations (Audio) at BellMedia Michael Nunan; and Mohamed Moutadayne, CTO & SVP of Product & Services at LyricFind.

Participants of the Hackathon will have the opportunity to work with experienced industry mentors, including technologist/media and entertainment industry professional Mathew Sherman, a 29-year veteran of BellMedia; composer/software developer Toby Sherriff; University of Toronto Adjunct Professor, Music Technology & Digital Media Program, Catherine Moore; Songwriter/Producer and founder of MDIIO, Justin Gray; Chief Technology Officer, Slaight Music, Barnaby Marshall;  VP Strategy and Operations at MDIIO, Ryan Maule; and Tobi Akinwumi, Manager – Product Management, Member Digital Products at SOCAN.

Teams will compete for cash prizes, and the winning team will also receive registrations for Canadian Music Week 2022, which is happening in April of 2022. Interested hackers can sign up to participate here. Want to sponsor or partner on Cue-Sheet-Palooza? contact us.