Advocacy

> What SOCAN Does > Advocacy

SOCAN fights for the legal, fair and ethical use of our members' music, and advocates for all of our members, whether songwriters, lyricists, concert music composers, film scorers, music publishers, or other types of music creators. SOCAN lobbies the federal government to ensure the most favourable possible conditions for our members, and especially to advocate for fair compensation for the use of their work. Similarly, SOCAN appears before the Copyright Board of Canada to pursue new tariffs for new uses of our members' music; to pursue better rates for our members on existing tariffs; to represent the rights of our members in hearings; or to oppose representations by those music user groups or organizations that we believe are not fairly compensating our members.

Jazz Cartier

Jazz Cartier songs offer complex explorations of relationships, self-determination, and the pitfalls of pursuing one’s art. SOCAN member Cartier has twice been a long-listed nominee for the Polaris Music Prize, in 2015 for Marauding in Paradise and 2016 for Hotel Paranoia. Starting out in Toronto, he quickly attracted attention, and his song “Switch” was regularly played at Toronto Raptors games. In 2016, Cartier performed at the Osheaga Festival, and his “Dead or Alive” was a short-listed nominee for the SOCAN Songwriting Prize. Hotel Paranoia won Rap Recording of the Year at the 2017 JUNO Awards, after which he signed an major-label American deal with Capitol Records.