Live Music Venues

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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.

To license your in-person live music event, click here.

Are you planning an online concert or virtual event? Learn more on how to obtain your music license here.

How does SOCAN’s Licensed To Play program work?

Licensed To Play is a long-term program with a core objective of encouraging businesses and their customers to think of music as an instrumental aspect of their experience. By displaying the Licensed To Play emblem proudly, businesses affirm that they put music to work ethically and legally, and recognize that music adds value to their business and their customers’ experience. Staying current with a SOCAN license enables an organization to be “Licensed to Play,” and upholds its support for those who create the music that their customers love.

Dead Obies

As Chairmen of Québec’s rap scene, the six members of Dead Obies are the incarnation of a bold, up-and-coming generation. They broke out in 2013 with Montréal $ud and followed up with 2016's Gesamtkunstwerk, a critical and popular juggernaut that mixed French and English. With little industry support, the SOCAN members topped of the sales charts in Québec, and reached the Top Five in Canada. Dead Obies have a very strong online presence, and totally embrace streaming platforms. They finished as Top Three finalists at the Francouvertes de Montréal in 2013, and have taken part in Francofolies de Montréal, “WordUP! Battles” and “Artbeat” events in Québec. They also won the Urban Music Award at the SOCAN Montréal Gala in 2017.