SOCAN’s 2020 International Revenue Forecast

Story by SOCAN | Monday June 15th, 2020

SOCAN has announced its 2020 international forecast for revenues gained from foreign sources, to enable our members to plan for their future finances. We forecast that 2020 international revenue will likely go down by approximately 10 percent when measured against 2019 international revenue, which was a record year. This estimate considers information and data shared with us by foreign music rights organizations, as well as our research and trend analyses. For the full forecast, go to https://covid19.socan.com/ and click on “SOCAN 2020 International Revenue Forecast”.

We also recently shared with our members the expected 10-20 percent overall financial impact that the COVID-19 crisis could have on SOCAN’s domestic revenue. For that domestic forecast, go to https://covid19.socan.com/ and click on “SOCAN Royalty Payments Outlook.”

Photo by courtesy/courtoisie. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Tory Lanez, Alessia Cara.

JUNO Awards 2020 winners to be announced online June 29th

Story by Howard Druckman | Thursday June 18th, 2020

Following the cancellation of the 2020 JUNO Awards in Saskatoon due to COVID-19, winners will now be announced in 42 categories during a virtual event on Monday, June 29, 2020, starting at 7:00 p.m. ET, on the free CBC Gem streaming service, CBC Music’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages, and for audiences around the world at www.CBCMusic.ca/junos.

Alessia Cara, scheduled to host The JUNO Awards Broadcast in Saskatoon, leads the nominations this year with a total of six, including Single, Album, Artist, and Pop Album of the Year. Tory Lanez received five nominations, including Artist, Rap Recording, and two in the R&B/Soul Recording of the Year. Both are nominated for the JUNO Fan Choice Award. Artists with three nominations include Alexandra Stréliski, Bryan Adams, bülow, Loud Luxury, NAV, and Shawn Mendes.

Performers will include iskwē, Neon Dreams, and The Dead South, and presenters will include Jessie Reyez, Measha Brueggergosman, Nuela Charles, Shoshona Kish, and Finn Wolfhard.

“We’re thrilled to finally announce the 2020 JUNO winners and recognize all of the incredibly talented artists who’ve been waiting patiently since we had to, unfortunately, cancel JUNO Week in Saskatoon,” said Allan Reid, President & CEO, CARAS/The JUNO Awards & MusiCounts. “Thanks to the amazing support of our broadcast and content partner CBC and our presenting partner TD, along with all of our funders and partners, we’re able to celebrate the best in Canadian music this year through this special virtual JUNOS event.”

Top Secrets: Cowboys Fringants Song “L’amérique Pleure”

Story by Eric Parazelli | Thursday June 11th, 2020

In the Top Secrets series, music creators whose songs have reached the peak of the BDS and corresponding ADISQ charts, and who’ve received SOCAN No. 1 Song Awards  for their accomplishments, describe how their chart-topping hits were created.

After writing and performing iconic songs for more than two decades, one might have thought that the Cowboys Fringants’ best years were behind them. Not so with “L’Amérique pleure” (“America is Crying”), a small gem of a song from last year’s album Les Antipodes.  With dark subject matter, and at five minutes long, it was unlikely to become a radio hit. Yet, after slowly maturing over the years and finally making it into the Cowboys’ impressive repertoire, the song reached No. 1 on the ADISQ and BDS charts in Québec, and maintained that position for 26 weeks! It’s an historic record that beats the 25 weeks the 2Frères song “Comme avant” held onto that spot on the same charts

From his home in L’Assomption, in the suburbs of Montréal, Cowboys Fringants songwriter and guitarist JF Pauzé recalls the birth of the song, and summarizes the impact that this unprecedented hit has had on the band, whose other members include Karl Tremblay, Marie-Annick Lépine and Jérôme Dupras.