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.
F__ked Up is a hardcore punk band from Toronto that won the 2009 Polaris Music Prize for the album The Chemistry of Common Life, and earned a short-list nomination for the prize again in 2012. The nomination described David Comes to Life as follows: “Excessive? Sure. Ridiculous? At times. Brilliant? Sounds pretty damn close to it.” Spin magazine named David Comes to Life its No. 1 Album of 2011, and put the band on the cover. The group of SOCAN members has remained a punk band even as they've achieved magazine covers, shared stadium stages with Foo Fighters, maintained a career, and created families to support.