Photo by Marie-Michèle Bouchard. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Wild Rivers, Pierre Kwenders, Haviah Mighty, Teen Daze, Lauren Spencer-Smith

Video: JUNOs 2023 Red Carpet “Short Takes”

Story by Howard Druckman | Thursday March 23rd, 2023

At the 2023 JUNO Awards, SOCAN briefly caught up with many of our members on the red carpet. Here’s what some of them had to say…

 

We chatted with JUNOs 2023 Breakthrough Group of the Year nominee Wild Rivers about performing at The JUNO Awards Songwriter’s Circle, presented by SOCAN, and connecting with their audience.

Click on the image to view the interview with Wild Rivers

Click on the image to view the interview with Wild Rivers

Pierre Kwenders, 2022 Polaris Prize Winner, and 2023 JUNO nominee for Global Music Album of the Year, talked with us about how music is a universal language.

Click on the image to play the Pierre Kwenders interview video

Click on the image to play the Pierre Kwenders interview video

JUNOs 2023 performer and JUNOs 2022 Rap Album/EP of the Year winner Haviah Mighty discussed the importance of maintaining mental health.

Click on the image to watch the interview with Haviah Mighty

Click on the image to watch the interview with Haviah Mighty

Teen Daze, 2023 JUNO winner in the Electronic Album of the Year category, discusses moving from the underground electronic scene to Canada’s highest musical honour.

Click on the image to view the interview with Teen Daze.

Click on the image to view the interview with Teen Daze.

TikTok phenomenon Lauren Spencer-Smith, a 2023 JUNO double-nominee, for Artist of the Year and the Fan Choice Award, shares her unique perspective on the importance of carving out, and owning, your own path.

Click on the image to view the interview with Lauren Spencer-Smith

Click on the image to view the interview with Lauren Spencer-Smith

 

Logan Staats receives SOCAN Foundation TD Indigenous Songwriter Award

Story by SOCAN Foundation / Fondation SOCAN | Monday March 27th, 2023

The SOCAN Foundation is delighted to announce Logan Staats as the recipient of this year’s TD Indigenous Songwriter Award. The acclaimed Mohawk artist from Six Nations of the Grand River (in Ontario) is being recognized for his song, “Deadman”.

The SOCAN Foundation’s TD Indigenous Songwriter Award was created to recognize and celebrate the artistic merit demonstrated by Indigenous songwriters of any genre, and this year marks the fifth anniversary of the Awards. Staats will receive a cash prize of $10,000, as well as career development opportunities, and a performance opportunity in front of music industry professionals.

“My nation and my community are in every chord I play, and every note I sing. They’ve saved me,” says Staats. “As I spend more and more time on Indigenous frontlines, it’s really affecting my songwriting. Most of my inspiration has come from my time at Land Back Lane and Wet’suwet’en. I used to keep my activism and music separate, but now they’re totally intermingled.”

Honourable Mention awards of $1,000 are also being made to Aysanabee, Ila Barker, Kaeley Jade, Uncle Joe, and Twin Flames. The winners will be using the funds to support their career development in various areas, including recording new music, videography, and business management.

“Empowering Indigenous voices is essential, and we’re thankful for ongoing support from  TD to celebrate Indigenous songwriters in Canada,” said Charlie Wall-Andrews, Executive Director of SOCAN Foundation. “The award is designed to celebrate merit in the craft of songwriting.”

On March 27, 2023, at 6:00 pm ET, all SOCAN Foundation TD Indigenous Songwriter Award recipients will be honoured on a special edition of The Kim Wheeler Show on SiriusXM’s The Indigiverse, Channel 165. Listeners will learn more about all the recipients from across Canada and hear their music.

“It’s exciting to see how many Indigenous songwriters there are. Congratulations to Logan Staats and all of the special distinction winners,” says Kim Wheeler, host of SiriusXM Indigiverse and Award jury chair. “The industry is growing, and this Award helps celebrate and create opportunities for Indigenous creators and make space for musicians who are making amazing music.”

Hundreds of applications from artists across Canada covering a wide variety of musical genres were submitted for consideration, and the winners were selected by a jury and advisory council of prominent Indigenous artists and industry leaders, including those of First Nations, Métis and Inuit heritage. This special Award is made possible with the support of TD Bank Group. Previous recipients of the award are Laura Niquay, Leonard Sumner, Anachnid, and Jasmine Netsena.

“TD is proud to congratulate Logan Staats as winner of the TD Indigenous Songwriter Award,” said Robyn Small, Senior Manager, Philanthropy, Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship, TD Bank Group. “Through the TD Ready Commitment, our corporate citizenship platform, we seek to help break down barriers for emerging artists and spotlight them through our support for organizations like the SOCAN Foundation. We’re proud to celebrate the musical and cultural works of artists from the Indigenous community, and help create opportunities to amplify diverse voices.”

In 2018, Logan Staats won the musical competition The Launch, a breakthrough that would lead him to Nashville and Los Angeles, to his single “The Lucky Ones” reaching No. 1 in Canada, and to winning the Indigenous Music Award for best radio single.

In the years since, Staats has come home, making the intentional decision to re-root at Six Nations of the Grand River. To Staats, music is a healing salve, contemplatively composed, and offered to listeners in need of comfort. Since returning home, Staats has been able to create music authentically again, reclaiming his sound through honest storytelling and unvarnished, sometimes painful reflection.

Staats has recently found a new label home with Red Music Rising, and is excited to be working on his next album, which includes songs entirely written by Staats, with the exception of one cover.

Counting musical icon Buffy Sainte-Marie (for whom he frequently opens) among his mentors, Staats wants to pay forward the guidance he’s received by connecting with Indigenous youth through music. He frequently leads workshops and visits local schools.

SOCAN members get discount on WIOpro audio-visual broadcast tracker

Story by SOCAN | Wednesday March 22nd, 2023

SOCAN members can now subscribe, at a 20 percent discount, to the powerful WIOpro audio-visual broadcast tracking tool, which enables songwriters, composers, screen composers, and music publishers to more accurately track their domestic and international screen performances. Use of the tracker is expected to increase transparency in those performances, and therefore increase the associated music royalties. You can subscribe now at http://wiopro.com.

Our members receive royalties from various sources, via SOCAN, when movies, series, and episodes  containing their music are broadcast, both domestically and globally. SOCAN relies on screen producers, broadcasters, music supervisors, and other stakeholders to provide music usage information via cue sheet submissions. Now, with WIOpro, SOCAN members can reliably track audio-visual broadcasts to reconcile and verify their royalty statements, as the software uses industry-standard electronic program guide data to generate easy-to-use reports.

“We’re extraordinarily pleased to be able to offer SOCAN members discounted access to WIOpro, a new industry standard in film/TV music royalties,” said Shawn Pierce, WIO President, CEO, and co-founder, and himself a Canadian television music composer. “Tested, solid, digital, and reliable, our platform empowers members, and SOCAN itself, to better handle the often difficult task of tracking down broadcasts missed due to cue sheet errors and other data problems. As I know from personal experience, that translates to money in the pocket.”

With WIOpro, a SOCAN member logs on, and populates their dashboard with the movies, series, or episodes they want to track. When they return to their dashboard days, weeks, or months later, they can run reports showing the cable and satellite television broadcasts of their programming in any of the 55 territories that WIOpro tracks, worldwide. They can then compare the data with their royalty statement, to find broadcasts where information hasn’t been submitted for royalty payment.

“SOCAN is pleased to be the first and only music rights organization offering its members discounted access to WIOpro, in partnership with WIO,” said Jean-Christian Céré, SOCAN’s Chief Membership Officer. “Their unique platform provides deep and clear insight into global television airings that are often difficult to obtain. We welcome WIOpro’s tracking and reporting as additional tools for our members to identify their performances more efficiently.”

That tracking is powered by the same broadcast data that cable and satellite systems use, making WIOpro efficient at finding unreported broadcasts of movies and episodes. Unlike audio detection systems, WIOpro reports are accepted and easily verified at most performing rights organizations and collective management organizations. Reports can be generated in formats such as PDF and CSV, the latter of which can be directly imported into spreadsheet programs, such as Excel.

WIO, which stands for “When’s It On?,” was originally founded because WIO CEO Pierce wanted insight into his own music catalogue and royalties. Using WIOpro, he uncovered about $50,000 in royalties that he would never have received otherwise.