The Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

organization dedicated exclusively to Canadian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income ...

s and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

s. Their mission is to develop and protect the creative and business environments for songwriters in Canada and around the world.

Origins

In 1983, a group of songwriters came together in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

to create an industry presence for Canadian songwriters. Originally named the "Canadian Songwriters Association", the primary objectives were to give a voice to lyricists and composers within Canada's music and broadcasting industries, and to provide input into the copyright reforms that were happening at the time in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. As part of this broader initiative, the association was part of the larger Music Copyright Action Group (MCAG), formed as a lobby group to influence positive changes in the federal Copyright Act. The founding board of directors and first executive consisted of

Terry McManus Terrence McManus (1946 – December 18, 2021) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who is known for launching the Songwriters Association of Canada. He is also an artists manager representing The Birthday Massacre, " Survivorman" Les Stroud, and Cana ...

(president), Gregory Marshall (vice-president), and other Canadian songwriters, including

Eddie Schwartz Edward Sydney Schwartz C.M. (born December 22, 1949) is a Canadian musician who had moderate success as a recording artist in the early 1980s before becoming a successful songwriter and record producer in the late 1980s and the 1990s. Songs he ...

Rich Dodson Rich Dodson (born 1947) is a Canadian musician and songwriter who is the guitarist, vocalist and a founding member of the rock trio The Stampeders. He is best known for penning the group's biggest hit, "Sweet City Woman", which hit number 1 i ...

, composer/arranger

Maribeth Solomon Maribeth Solomon (born June 23, 1950) is a Canadian film and television composer and songwriter.Stephen Stohn John Stephen Stohn (born May 8, 1948) is an American-born Canadian entertainment lawyer and television producer. He is best known for his involvement with the ''Degrassi'' teen drama franchise, particularly as an executive producer on ''Degrassi: ...

- plus executive director

Donna Murphy Donna Murphy (born March 7, 1959) is an American actress, best known for her work in musical theater. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she has twice won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical: for her role as Fosca in '' Passion'' (1994–1995) ...

. An honorary board was assembled that included

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib; July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968, at the re ...

Tom Cochrane Thomas William Cochrane ( ; born May 14, 1953) is a Canadian musician best known as the frontman for the rock band Red Rider and for his work as a solo singer-songwriter. Cochrane has won eight Juno Awards. He is a member of the Canadian Music ...

and

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel in ...

. At this time, a name change to the "Songwriters Association of Canada" or "S.A.C" accompanied a widened mandate that included songwriter development through workshops and the opportunity to allow budding songwriters to have their work reviewed and assessed by seasoned industry professionals.

Proposal to monetize file sharing

The SAC made news in late 2007 when they released a proposal to monetize

file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...

in Canada by setting up a collection agency to distribute royalties to artists and songwriters (much like what is done on the radio). Similar ideas had been proposed in the past by the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...

and William Fischer, but the SAC was one of the largest organizations and one of the first artist organizations to get serious about the idea. The Canadian Record Industry Association called it a "pipe dream" at first, but in 2008 the

record industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

shifted its strategy to push for largely the same idea that the SAC had proposed. The

Canadian Music Creators Coalition Canadian Music Creators Coalition is a group of Canadian music artists opposed to introducing legislation similar to the United States' DMCA into Canadian intellectual property law. The group was officially formed April 26, 2006. An editorial from ...

, on the other hand, called the proposal "forward thinking." The proposal received much criticism from technology experts as a "music tax," since it calls for a mandatory license for everyone connected to the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, rather than an opt-in voluntary system.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Organizations based in Ontario Music organizations based in Canada 1983 establishments in Ontario *