Whether you broadcast a TV or cable TV show that includes music in some of the programming, or operate a terrestrial, satellite or online radio station that broadcasts music, getting Licensed To Play by SOCAN means that the people who created that music are compensated for your use of their work. You’re also making sure that the music used to build your viewership or listenership is used fairly, legally and ethically. The license fees that broadcasters pay to SOCAN for the public performance of music – whether via cue sheets for individual music performances or blanket licenses for all music performances within a given time period – compensate songwriters, composers and music publishers that make up SOCAN.
What happens to the license fees my business pays to SOCAN?
SOCAN is a member-based, not-for-profit organization. All the royalties that we collect – less operating costs– are passed on to our members, and members of SOCAN’s affiliated international societies, who create the music that you use in your business and at your events.
deadmau5 (a.k.a. Joel Zimmerman) made the cover of Rolling Stone in 2012, and is the most recognized figure in electronic dance music – both for his mix of progressive house, techno, trance and repetitive beats, and for creating his memorable giant mouse head. The first Canadian musician to headline and fill Toronto’s cavernous Rogers Centre (capacity 54,000), the SOCAN member rocketed to the top of his game in an impressively short amount of time. deadmau5 has earned a SOCAN International Achievement Award, three JUNOs, five Beatport Awards, four electronic music DJ Awards, three International Dance Music Awards, and six Grammy nominations.