Live Music Venues

> Who Socan Works With > Music Users > Live Music Venues

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.

If I don't use Canadian-made music, do I still have to get a SOCAN license?

Yes. A SOCAN license gives you permission to use copyright-protected musical works of SOCAN members as well as members of affiliated international performing rights societies from around the world. Through agreements with international performing rights organizations, SOCAN issues licenses for virtually all music used in public by businesses in Canada. SOCAN then transfers the corresponding monies to the appropriate society, and vice versa.

Shawn Mendes

SOCAN member Shawn Mendes’ first hit single “Stitches” reached the Top 10 in the U.S. and Canada, and No. 1 in the U.K. His albums Handwritten and Illuminate both debuted atop the U.S. Billboard 200. In only a few years, the 20-year-old pop star has already opened a tour for Taylor Swift and headlined at Madison Square Gardens. He earned a SOCAN Breakout Award in 2015 and Pop/Rock Award in 2016, and the Allan Slaight Honour from Canada's Walk of Fame. After 10 JUNO Award nominations, in 2017 Mendes finally won the Fan Choice Award. A few days later, he joined his hero John Mayer onstage.