Live music venues offer music fans a space to enjoy unique, real-time musical performances – concert experiences only made possible by songwriters and composers who create the music that those musicians perform. When you become Licensed To Play with SOCAN, you have the freedom to engage all the live music your business needs to be successful, while ensuring that the artists you hire to perform are compensated for their work as songwriters as well. Your license to play music demonstrates to artists, songwriters, music fans and peer businesses that your venue is using music legally and ethically, while supporting Canadian music creators. The license fees that live venues pay to SOCAN for the public performance of live music are used to compensate SOCAN-member songwriters, composers and music publishers that make up SOCAN.
I already paid for the music (i.e., purchased a CD or download), so why do I need a SOCAN license?
When you buy a CD, or download music from a legal site, you gain the right to play music in private, but not in public. A SOCAN license allows you to perform that music in public.
PUP's first single “Reservoir” was one of 10 songs nominated for a SOCAN Songwriting Prize in 2014. Their first album was long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize in 2014, and their second made the 10-album short list for the prize in 2016. PUP won two Bucky Awards from CBC Radio 3 in 2013. Rolling Stone magazine listed PUP as one of 2014's "breakout rock acts," and they've been nominated for three JUNO Awards. The band of SOCAN members has toured relentlessly across North America, and brought their intense, high-energy punk rock to such key festivals such as NXNE, Halifax Pop Explosion, Pop Montréal, and CMW.