We already pay the performers. Why do we have to pay SOCAN?
When you hire a band or a DJ, you’re paying for their services as performing artists, but not for the public performance of the music, that is, for the people who created the music being performed. Performing music and creating music are two separate types of creative work, and each deserves fair compensation, even in cases where the performers are also the creators of the works.
In 2015 year-end “Best-Of” lists, SOCAN member Grimes was in the top three in Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Billboard, and The New York Times, among others. A fiercely independent artist, Grimes has achieved such success without compromise. She writes, records and produces all of her own music, which ranges from the sweetest radio pop, to industrial bombast, to cranking electro beats. She designs her own album art, directs her own videos, and has created her own perfume. Equally at home at Comic-Con or on a modelling runway, this DIY renaissance woman has become the patron saint of millennials worldwide.