SOCAN is reporting another record high for revenue distribution.
In its annual financial report, the Canadian rights organization that collects and distributes publishing royalties for musicians and rights-holders shares that its collected revenue grew to $587 million last year, with $511.9 million being distributed to writers and publishers — a 5% increase from 2024.
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Of the nearly $600 million in revenues, $445.5 million came from music use in Canada. It’s a weighty increase from last year’s numbers, which were approximately $23.9 million lower. This year’s stats are led by digital revenue sources totalling $232.8 million, an 11.5% year-over-year increase.
Meanwhile, general licensing and concerts revenue rose by 16.1%, and revenue from international territories increased by $3.9 million to $141.7 million, reflecting a rise in global demand for Canadian music, up 1.4% from last year.
While the numbers are high, the organization says its findings come during a fraught time as industry-wide conversations on discoverability, streaming economic challenges and generative AI are inciting mounting pressure on Canadian artists and rights-holders.
Artists like icon Anne Murray and pop singer Alessia Cara have become alleged victims of unlicensed AI works, after songs that eerily resemble their voices have been uploaded to streaming platforms and social media in recent months.
“As AI accelerates change across the creative industries, SOCAN has remained focused on a core principle: human creativity must be protected, respected and fairly compensated,” the report reads.
SOCAN has also become the first performing rights group to join the Music Fights Fraud Alliance (MFFA), an organization created to combat the streaming of fraudulent content. In February, the organization launched a national five-week member letter-writing campaign to put a stop to unauthorized AI music. That generated 8,700 letters to the Government of Canada to urge policymakers to reject any permits that allow the unlicensed use of music to train AI systems.
It was backed by many Canadian artists and labels, including Sarah McLachlan, Mac DeMarco, Leith Ross, BMG Music Publishing and more.
“SOCAN’s financial results show increased revenues but we all need to acknowledge that Canadian songwriters and composers are living a different reality,” says SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown. “There is an urgent need for modern protections rooted in consent, credit and compensation, to provide songwriters and composers with a reliable foundation from which to support their families and continue making music.”
Read more here.
Canadian Vocal Producer and Coach Nevon Sinclair Passes Away
Canadian vocalist Nevon Sinclair has passed away.
The Toronto singer, vocal producer and vocal coach’s death was confirmed to Billboard Canada on April 14 by Jermayne Clayton, artist manager and vice-chair of government and community relations at Music Managers Forum Canada. Sinclair’s passing was unexpected, while he was abroad in Thailand.
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Due to his sudden departure, Sinclair’s family has launched a GoFundMe to raise money for his funeral and other related costs, including bringing him back to Canada. At the time of reporting, the family has received three-quarters of their $30,000 goal.
Sinclair was an active mentor in the city, providing intentional vocal development, vocal arrangement and coaching sessions to Canadian artists like Daniel Caesar, Charlotte Day Wilson, Savannah Ré, Loony, Dylan Sinclair, TheHonestGuy and more.
In the 2010s, he launched The Vocal Alchemist, a hub to develop his services, in what he called “the home of intentional sound.” Nevon Sinclair built up a roster of talent over the past decade, helping them elevate their vocal potential.
Notably, he worked with Caesar on the Toronto singer’s breakout debut album, Freudian, in 2017. He provided coaching, background vocals, arrangement recording and tour support on the project. “Best Part,” a collaboration with H.E.R., went on to win best R&B performance at the 2019 Grammys.
Canadian manager, producer and close Daniel Caesar collaborator Jordan Evans says “Nevon was a beautiful person and an incredible talent. He had a rare gift for bringing out the best in everyone he worked with, and he filled every room with his warmth and energy. His contributions to Canadian R&B were immense, and his impact will be felt for generations to come.”
Meanwhile, Toronto-based producer Matthew Burnett, known for helming hits for artists like Drake and Jessie Reyez and also a producer/manager for Caesar, calls Sinclair “a true unsung hero in this city who always understood the assignment.”
“Nevon Sinclair was one of one,” Burnett says. “He was part of my foundation early in my career as the go-to for all things vocals and always delivered. He was a quiet, beautiful soul with an impeccable sense of humour who was given a gift from God, which he made sure to share by impacting both the gospel community and the music industry at large. It was this sensitivity and understanding of both worlds that made him the perfect person for us to collaborate with on Freudian and so many other projects. His legacy will live on forever both tangibly through the works he touched but also through the impact he had in the hearts of many.”
Head here for more tributes from Savannah Ré, Dylan Sinclair and more.
Director Chandler Levack on the 2010s Montreal Artists Who Inspired ‘Mile End Kicks’
Chandler Levack is a scholar of Montreal’s indie music scene.
“The city has famously gone through so many exciting waves in music,” the Toronto-born director tells Billboard Canada. “There was Arcade Fire, The Dears, The Unicorns, Stars, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Wolf Parade [in the 2000s] which was electrifying. When I moved there, there was this new wave of artists like Grimes, Mac DeMarco, Silly Kissers, Think About Life, Cadence Weapon. There’s like a million artists I could name.”
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Levack’s move to the city that unknowingly laid the groundwork for her second film, Mile End Kicks, which premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and is now out in select theatres.
Before Levack became a filmmaker, she was a music critic. Citing Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous as her north star, Levack dove head first into the music world — she dropped out of her Cinema Studies program at University of Toronto to write full-time, interned at lauded music magazine SPIN, worked for now-extinct Toronto alt-weekly Eye Weekly, got the scoop on Grimes’ avant-garde world before she made it mainstream and even co-directed a couple of Juno-nominated music videos for Toronto punk rockers PUP.
Mastering the art of nostalgia is Levack’s forté. Transporting viewers back to the 2010s, Mile End Kicks is a semi-autobiographical take on Levack’s experience in Montreal. Lead character Grace (played by Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira) is navigating the music landscape during a pivotal period for the city’s music scene, when the talent from homegrown artists was oozing out of the city and attracting international audiences. The scene was fuelled by cheap rent, a Québécois joie de vivre and nightly gigs by burgeoning acts, like DeMarco and Grimes.
“They were all playing these tiny loft shows,” Levack says. “Coming from Toronto, where I’d only ever really been to more conventional indie rock shows and venues, it was incredibly exciting to be at an abandoned warehouse at three in the morning, watching one of these artists perform for the first time.”
The film is filled with throwback tracks from Canadian artists, including Cadence Weapon, Sean Nicholas Savage, Peaches, Mozart’s Sister and Diane Tell. Levack worked with Montreal indie rock band Tops, formerly known as Silly Killers, to craft two original songs for the soundtrack.
We asked Levack to flex her knowledge of Montreal’s music scene, sharing seven songs from the early 2010s that shaped her and defined the era.
Check out her picks here.
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