Photo by SOCAN. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Emma-Lee, Karen Kosowski, Gavin Slate, Todd Clark, Travis Wood, Phoenix Pagliacci

SOCAN presents No. 1 Song Awards to three chart-toppers in four days

Story by Howard Druckman, with files from/avec Melissa Cameron-Passley | Friday September 20th, 2019

SOCAN was pleased and proud to present No. 1 Song Awards to the co-writers of three chart-topping songs, in one four-day timespan: The James Barker Band’s “Keep It Simple,” Tim Hicks’ “What A Song Should Do,” and Shad’s “The Fool Pt. 1.”

SOCAN, No. 1 Song, James Barker Band, Keep It Simple, Melissa Cameron-Passley, Gavin Slate, Rodney Murphy, Todd Calrk, Travis Wood

Left to right: Melissa Cameron-Passley, Gavin Slate, Rodney Murphy, Todd Clark, Travis Wood

SOCAN’s Rodney Murphy and Melissa Cameron-Passley presented the No. 1 Award for JBB’s “Keep It Simple” to co-writers Gavin Slate, Travis Wood, and Todd Clark, after a dinner at Giovanni Ristorante in Nashville, on Sept. 13, 2019, during the city’s Americanafest. “Keep It Simple” reached the top of the Nielsen BDS Country Chart on May 27, 2019, and is co-published by Anthem Entertainment and Downtown Music Publishing.

SOCAN, No. 1 Song Award, Tim Hicks, What A Song Should Do, Melissa Cameron-Passley, Emma-Lee, Karen Kosowski, Rodney Murphy

Left to right: Melissa Cameron-Passley, Emma-Lee, Karen Kosowski, Rodney Murphy

The next day, also during Americanafest in Nashville, SOCAN’s Murphy and Cameron-Passley presented the No. 1 Award  for Tim Hicks’ “What A Song Should Do” to co-writers Emma-Lee and Karen Kosowski, at a dinner at Husk. The song scaled the peak of the Nielsen BDS Country Chart on June 10, 2019.

“Keep it Simple” co-writer and performer James Barker, and  “What A Song Should Do” co-writer and performer Tim Hicks, were both awarded for their respective songs the week before, during the 2019 Canadian Country Music Awards week in Calgary.

SOCAN, No. 1 Song Award, Shad, The Fool Pt. 1, Melissa Cameron-Passley, Phoenix Pagliacci

Left to right: Phoenix Pagliacci, Melissa Cameron-Passley

Back in Toronto, Cameron-Passley presented the No. 1 Award for Shad’s “The Fool Pt. 1” to co-writer Phoenix Pagliacci, during a brunch at Mildred’s Temple Kitchen, prior to a CBC Music interview, on Sept. 16, 2019. (Co-writers Shad and Ricardo del Mundo Jr. will be awarded at a later date). “The Fool Pt. 1” attained the zenith of the CBC Music Top 20 chart on  Sept. 13 2018, and is published by Secret City Records.

SOCAN congratulates all of the songwriters and publishers of these chart-topping songs!

Photo by Marie-Michèle Bouchard

David Murphy et Cie: Publishing at Heart

Story by Eric Parazelli | Friday September 20th, 2019

The Magog-based publishing company David Murphy et Cie is the winner of the 2019 SOCAN Publisher of the Year Award, and will receive the honour during the 30th SOCAN Awards Gala, slated for Sept. 22, 2019, at La Tohu. Two of the company’s core values are transparency and integrity, which no doubt explains why it’s been so successful since it was launched in 1997. Last year, David Murphy et Cie focused on the development of three artists: Alexandre Belliard, who took his saga “Légendes d’un peuple” all the way to Costa Rica and Colombia; Élage Diouf, who received considerable support to participate in the Pacific Contact Showcase in Vancouver; and Alexandra Stréliski, whose career began in earnest, in more than 20 countries, following the launch of her album Inscape. Bold and innovative, the company has also streamlined its service requests by using SOCAN’s concert notification API, which helped David Murphy et Cie become the publisher who submits the highest number of concerts to SOCAN per year. We met with David Murphy et Cie in Magog to find out more about the often-unknown yet essential trade that is music publishing.

Photo by Marie-Michèle Bouchard

Country & Hip-Hop: FouKi, Matt Lang and Claude Bégin meet

Story by Eric Parazelli | Friday September 20th, 2019

The song “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus was without a doubt the hit of the summer. That gave us the idea to bring together Matt Lang, winner of the Country Music Award, with FouKi and Claude Bégin of Alaclair Ensemble, winners of the Hip-Hop/Rap Award, all to be presented during the 30th SOCAN Awards Gala in Montréal, on Sept. 22, 2019, at La Tohu. What are their respective accomplishments? What’s their take on “Old Town Road”? Is such a collaboration possible in Québec? What do country and rap have in common, according to them? We asked them all of these questions on the rooftop of SOCAN’s Montréal offices.