Photo by Eric Parazelli

Trille Or 2019: Cindy Doire wins SOCAN Songwriter Award

Story by Eric Parazelli | Tuesday May 7th, 2019

The 10th bi-annual edition of the Gala Trille Or, celebrating the musical diversity of Canada’s Francophone community, was held May 2, 2019, at a sold-out Centre des arts Shenkman in the Ottawa suburb of Orléans. Produced by the Association des professionnels de la chanson et de la musique (APCM) and presented by Unis TV, the gala offered an opportunity for artists from across Canada, industry professionals, and the public to honour artistic excellence and celebrate Franco-Canadian music.

YAO, Trille Or 2019

SOCAN member YAO won three awards at the 2019 Trille Or Gala. (Photo: Eric Parazelli)

 

Ottawa singer-songwriter YAO won a leading three awards, for Best Solo Artist, Best Live Show and Media Favourite. Timmins-based singer-songwriter Cindy Doire received the SOCAN Songwriter Award from the President of the organization’s Board of Directors, Marc Ouellette. Eric Parazelli, Francophone Editor of SOCAN’s online magazine, was also there, to meet Doire and capture her reaction.

 

 

Presented every other year, the Gala Trille Or is an opportunity for Canada’s Francophone regional music communities to get together and catch up on the news from other areas, reflect on their common issues, and even make music together during the work lab, and other workshops. SOCAN once again accepted APCM’s invitation to present a panel, this time on the artistic and economic opportunities of co-writing. The workshop was facilitated by Parazelli, and featured Caracol, DJ Unpier,  publisher Xavier Collin from France, as well as Xavier Forget from the Oç Centre for the Arts. Interesting discussions took place about co-writing, song camps such as SOCAN’s Kenekt, and the mistakes to avoid when deciding copyright shares for the resulting songs.

 

SOCAN, panel, Trille Or 2019

SOCAN panel: The importance of co-writing; artistic process and economic perspectives. (Photo: Julien Lavoie)

 

Who better to give us a feeling of the characteristically warm atmosphere of the Gala Trille Or and its red carpet than the famed Franco-Ontarian singer-songwriter Damien Robitaille, who also hosted the gala in 2015. He graciously accepted SOCAN’s invitation to take us on a tour of the red carpet during a Facebook Live event, broadcast on SOCAN’s French Facebook page.

 

 

WINNERS of the 2019 GALA TRILLE OR   

Solo Artist
YAO

Band
Les Rats d’Swompe

Breakthrough (Artist or Band)
Kimya

Author(s) and/or Composer(s)
Cindy Doire

Best EP
Vaero – Le noeud

Best Album
Mclean – Une dernière fois

Best Album from Acadia
Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire – Viens avec moi

Best Live Show
YAO

Best Song
Mélissa Ouimet, Amours jetables

Media Favourite
YAO

Homage
Carmen Campagne

For the complete list of winners of the industry gala that took place on May 1, 2019, see the  APCM press release.

 

RE:SOUND and SOCAN Collaborate to Create Entandem

Story by SOCAN | Wednesday May 8th, 2019

With goals of simplifying music licensing for hundreds of thousands of organizations across Canada that benefit from music, and to source and return more earned royalties to Canadian songwriters, composers, publishers, labels and performers, RE:SOUND and SOCAN have created Entandem.

Co-owned and overseen by RE:SOUND and SOCAN, Entandem brings the music licensing now managed separately by each organization into a single, jointly-operated business. With Entandem, retailers, restaurants, nightclubs, fitness clubs, and myriad other organizations that use music will be able to complete their legally-required licenses in a single transaction.

The new joint venture, which builds upon a successful 2017 pilot project that combined music licensing for both parent organizations via an online portal, will be launched in July 2019. Until launch, licensing will continue to be administered separately by RE:SOUND and SOCAN, without change.

“Entandem is all about simplicity,” said Ian MacKay, president of RE:SOUND. “For most businesses that use music, a single licensing organization means a simplified experience, by interacting with one organization instead of two, with one payment for both RE:SOUND and SOCAN music licenses, and one point of contact to answer questions and resolve issues.”

“It’s about time – literally,” said Jeff Stinco, member of Simple Plan and owner of Mangiafoco, one of the many great restaurants of Montréal. “Mangiafoco welcomes Entandem’s one-stop service because it will save us time. We strongly believe that the music we play at the restaurant brings value, otherwise we wouldn’t use it, and it’s only fair that the owners of the music that we license gain fair royalties for their work.”

A songwriter and performer who receives royalties from both RE:SOUND and SOCAN, Stinco added, “By making music licensing easier and more efficient, it will help put more of the value our music provides into the hands of rights-holders like me. It’s a big step forward for anyone seeking to build a sustainable career in music.”

Whether recorded or live music, it’s the law in Canada that businesses must pay for the music they use so that those who made the music can be fairly compensated, just as restaurants pay food suppliers and nightclubs pay for the liquor they serve.

Entandem will administer the licensing process as RE:SOUND and SOCAN do today, bringing royalties to Canadian songwriters, composers, publishers, labels and performers. Music licenses will continue to be based on agreements with users or tariffs approved by the Copyright Board of Canada.

While Entandem will collect licenses for live performances and the general use of recorded music in public venues, RE:SOUND and SOCAN will continue to administer royalties separately for recorded music – for example, on YouTube, social media, radio, television, movies, and online streaming services in single-use or as copies. Background music suppliers will also continue to obtain licenses directly from RE:SOUND and SOCAN.

SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste added: “RE:SOUND and SOCAN getting together for Entandem means a strengthened ability to reach more businesses that should be paying both music licenses that provide vital support to music creators, especially the emerging and middle-class ones. By making the process easier, we expect stronger engagement across the country and, with that, increased realization of earned royalties for Canada’s songwriters, composers, publishers, labels and performers.”

Entandem will be a partner with businesses that use music, helping them to use music more effectively, increase the use of live music, improve audio systems and more, with the essential truth that, the better the music experience, the better the customer experience. An improved customer experience results in extended shopping, increased spending, loyalty and, importantly, recommending the business to others.

Entandem will be jointly owned and overseen by RE:SOUND and SOCAN. However, in its day-to-day activities, it will operate separately from the parent organizations, under separate management.

The new organization will operate nationwide and will have premises in both downtown Toronto and Montréal. Existing licensing teams from each company will come together in shared locations.

Further information about Entandem is available at the organization’s website, www.EntandemLicensing.com/.

Photo by SOCAN. SOCAN's Rodney Murphy de la SOCAN (left/gauche) with/avec The East Pointers.

East Pointers earn SOCAN song honour at 2019 East Coast Music Awards

Story by Howard Druckman | Tuesday May 7th, 2019

Rolicking live band The East Pointers earned the SOCAN Song of the Year honour at the 2019 East Coast Music Awards, for “Two Weeks.” SOCAN Senior Director, A&R, Rodney Murphy and JUNO-winning roots singer-songwriter Old Man Luedecke presented the band with their trophy at the East Coast Music Awards Show, on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at the Confederation Ballroom in the Delta Hotel by Marriott Prince Edward, in Charlottetown. (A second round of awards in this 31st annual edition were presented at a gala that closed the awards week, in the same venue, on Sunday, May 5, 2019.)

Classified led the award count with four, for Rap/Hip-Hop Recording, Solo Recording, and Album of the Year, all for Tomorrow Could Be the Day Things Change, as well as Video of the Year, for “Powerless.” Polaris Music Prize 2018 winner Jeremy Dutcher earned three honours, for Contemporary Roots Recording and Rising Star Recording of the Year, for his album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, as well as Indigenous Artist of the Year.

Singer-songwriter Ben Caplan earned the Songwriter of the Year Award, the Charke-Cormier Duo won Classical Composition of the Year for Ex Tempore, and the Francophone Recording of the Year was Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire’s Viens avec moi. The Venue of the Year, for the fourth time, was The Carleton Music Bar & Grill in Halifax – proudly Licensed To Play by SOCAN – which has persisted against all odds, under the guidance of Mike Campbell.

SOCAN Song House, ECMAs 2019

SOCAN Song House ECMAs 2019. Back Row: James Piercey (of ChessClub), Ashley Condon, Drew Moores, Corey Hachey (of FM Berlin), Alicia Toner, Cameron Nickerson, Kristen Rodden-Clarke (of Quote the Raven). Front Row: Mike McKenna Jr., Jordan Coaker (of Quote the Raven), Mallory Johnson, Elsie Morden, Melissa Cameron-Passley (of SOCAN), Brian Howes.

As part of the week leading up to the awards ceremony, renowned, veteran producer Brian Howes led the SOCAN Song House at East Coast Music Week 2019, May 1-2. Eleven songwriter participants from Atlantic Canada were selected to participate, gaining valuable insight into the craft of writing a hit song. They were (in alphabetical order) Jordan Coaker (of Quote the Raven), Ashley Condon, Corey Hachey (of FM Berlin), Mallory Johnson, Mike McKenna Jr., Drew Moores, Elsie Morden, Cameron Nickerson, James Piercey (of ChessClub), Kristen Rodden-Clarke (of Quote the Raven), and Alicia Toner.

During the ECMAs week, we presented a SOCAN No. 1 Song Award to Newfoundland-based duo The Fortunate Ones – Catherine Allan and Andrew James O’Brien – for “Hold Fast” topping the CBC Music Top 20 chart twice, on Aug. 9, 2018, and Jan. 3, 2019.

Fortunate Ones, SOCAN No. 1 Song Award, ECMAs 2019

SOCAN No. 1 Song Award winners Fortunate Ones