The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian
performance rights organization
A performance rights organisation (PRO), also known as a performing rights society, provides intermediary functions, particularly collection of royalties, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works ''publicly'' in loc ...
that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects license fees through a music licensing program approved by the
Copyright Board of Canada The Copyright Board of Canada (french: Commission du droit d'auteur du Canada) is an economic regulatory body empowered to establish, either mandatorily or at the request of an interested party, the royalties to be paid for the use of copyrighted wo ...
.
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).
In 2013, Front Row Insurance Brokers Inc. initiated an online musical instrument insurance program for members of various Canadian music associations, including SOCAN.
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.
In July 2016, SOCAN acquired Audiam, a U.S. startup created by
TuneCore
TuneCore is a Brooklyn, New York–based independent digital music distribution, publishing and licensing service founded in 2005. TuneCore principally offers musicians and other rights-holders the opportunity to distribute and sell or stream the ...
founder Jeff Price that specializes in managing the distribution of royalties for songs used on digital services such as
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, using a database of song recordings and metadata for identification.
In July 2019, SOCAN partnered with Re:Sound to launch Entandem, a single online portal to collect both copyright and neighbouring rights royalties.
See also
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References
External links
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Canadian copyright law
Music licensing organizations
Music organizations based in Canada
1989 establishments in Canada
Organizations established in 1989
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