Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada
Template:Short description Template:Infobox organization The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian nonprofit performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The organization collects license fees through a music licensing program approved by the Copyright Board of Canada.<ref name="CE">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and the SOCAN Foundation are divisions of SOCAN.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame works to "honour and celebrate Canadian songwriters, and those who have dedicated their lives to the legacy of music, and to educate the public about their achievements",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while the SOCAN Foundation provides awards, grant funding, and programs for Canadian musicians.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Structure
SOCAN consists of a Board of Directors, an Executive Team, as well as five committees which support the Board of Directors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The five committees include the Membership Committee, Reproduction Rights Committee, Risk and Audit Committee, Tariff, Licensing and Distribution Committee, and the Executive Governance Committee.
The current chair of the Board of Directors is Marc Ouellette.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
SOCAN is a result of a merger that took place in 1990 between the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC) and the Performing Rights Organization of Canada (PROCAN).<ref name= CE />
In 2013, Front Row Insurance Brokers Inc. initiated an online musical instrument insurance program for members of various Canadian music associations, including SOCAN.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In May 2016, SOCAN acquired the Seattle-based company Medianet Digital for an undisclosed amount; the organization planned to leverage the company's software and database of rights metadata to assist in the calculation and distribution of royalties for works on digital music streaming services.<ref name="gandm-medianet">Template:Cite web</ref> In July 2016, SOCAN acquired Audiam, a U.S. startup created by TuneCore founder Jeff Price that specializes in managing the distribution of royalties for songs used on digital services such as YouTube, using a database of song recordings and metadata for identification.<ref name="billboard-audiam">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name= "wsj-audiam">Template:Cite web</ref>
In July 2018, SOCAN completed its acquisition of SODRAC, to expand their service offering to include mechanical/reproduction rights.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In July 2019, SOCAN partnered with Re:Sound to launch Entandem, a single online portal to collect both copyright and neighbouring rights royalties.<ref name="cission-entandem">Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 2021, SOCAN participated in consulting the Government of Canada on the development of a copyright framework which addresses the rise of artificial intelligence.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
SOCAN Awards
Since 1990, SOCAN has hosted annual awards celebrating achievements made by Canadian songwriters, composers, and musicians.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ceremonies are held in both Toronto and Montreal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Award Categories
See also
- Entertainment Software Assn v Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada
- Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v Bell Canada
- Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v Canadian Assn of Internet Providers