TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) – A rising tide of Canadian music success around the world has helped to create a buoyant year for Canada’s songwriters, composers and publishers, adding to more history-making numbers for Canadian rights management organization SOCAN in 2018, as the company announced preliminary year-end results this week.
“The consistently increasing number of Canadian music creators aspiring to make a living from their creative work is similar to the halo effect we see in other industries,” said SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste. “SOCAN member songwriters and composers like Alessia Cara, Alexandra Stréliski, Drake, Elisapie, Frank Dukes, Hubert Lenoir, Keith Power, Loud, Murda Beatz, Shawn Mendes, Tebey, The Weeknd, and WondaGurl are excelling globally, and they inevitably inspire others to pursue their passion for creating music as a livelihood. A first step toward a serious career in music creation is to join SOCAN, so that you can get paid for what you’ve created.”
According to preliminary financial results, SOCAN’s total royalties collected for its nearly 160,000 member songwriters, composers and music publishers came in at $374-million, an 11% increase over the nearly $338-million collected in 2017. $315-million was distributed to SOCAN members, which marks an increase from $295-million in 2017, while domestic revenue increased 8% to $282-million over the previous year, and has steadily increased by 25% since 2013.
Total 2018 international royalties are estimated to be least $87-million, which marks an increase of 15% over 2017, while royalties from non-Canadian sources have increased by 70% over the past five years and are now the #1 revenue stream for SOCAN members, reflecting the incredible strength of Canadian talent and SOCAN’s repertoire.
In addition to the widespread global success of Canadian music creators, SOCAN has credited pioneering technology, unsurpassed search capabilities, improved data-matching, and a devoted SOCAN International Relations, Membership, Licensing, and Distribution teams for securing markedly better returns for its members.
Of the world’s top 10 performing rights collectives, SOCAN is the only one that returns 100% of the international royalties it receives from its international partners to its members with no additional management charge applied.
