2023-08-09 04:00:30
The pandemic is now a thing of the past for the music industry, but aid released by Quebec during this period for songwriters and music publishers is still awaited. SOCAN, the main copyright collective management organization in Canada, had the mandate to distribute these sums among its members to respond to the cancellation of shows due to the health situation. But now the process is experiencing significant delays.
“There was no mistake on our part. It’s not that we were overwhelmed, it’s that our structure is not made for that. We are not an organization that usually distributes government grants. We therefore had to put in place a structure to do so,” admits Alexandre Alonso, Executive Director of Quebec Affairs at SOCAN.
Normally, SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) is the main private entity in Canada responsible for collecting the amounts due to rightsholders when a song is played on the radio or a show. The waiting time to be paid is estimated at nine months. However, Le Devoir has learned that SOCAN is well beyond its usual deadlines for COVID aid.
SODEC raises its voice
The Société de développement des entreprises culturelle (SODEC), a Crown corporation headed by the Quebec Ministry of Culture, granted SOCAN in March 2022 the sum of $110,000 to partially compensate for the losses suffered by rights holders. in the first year of the pandemic. However, this kitty has not yet been completely redistributed among Quebec rights holders. SOCAN promised to do so by the end of the month.
There was no error on our part. It’s not that we were overwhelmed, it’s that our structure is not made for that.
As long as the money covering the year 2020-2021 is not completely channeled to the beneficiaries, SODEC will not release the amounts that were planned for the pandemic year 2021-2022. The Crown corporation is in the process of estimating how much this second envelope will cost, which will be distributed more quickly by SOCAN than the first, it is hoped.
“SODEC has intervened with SOCAN because it expects royalties to be settled in a diligent manner. […] SODEC will meet again with SOCAN in September to take stock. SODEC will not accept other processing delays,” SODEC specified by email.
Where is the ticket assistance money?
The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), the other large state-owned company attached to the Ministry of Culture, had also planned to financially help the rights holders for the losses caused by the pandemic. The method by which CALQ aid is distributed differs slightly from that of SODEC. The share going to rightsholders is equivalent to a percentage of box office assistance, which is first paid by the CALQ to the various broadcasters throughout Quebec. SOCAN then has the task of collecting the sums due to the rights holders from the broadcasters rather than directly from the CALQ.
In this case too, the money is long overdue. SOCAN indicates that it has paid to rights holders, since the start of the pandemic, $180,000 from the CALQ. An additional prize pool of $270,000 should also be distributed shortly among the rights holders. However, this amount is not definitive. Other sums granted by the CALQ are expected in the coming months, as the ticketing assistance program does not end until next year.
David Murphy, who owns a music rights management company, is tempted to believe that the figures put forward by SOCAN represent only a small part of the amounts resulting from the CALQ. Exasperated by the long delays, he is now calling on the government to put pressure on SOCAN to speed up the redistribution process.
“The public assistance paid by the Government of Quebec to support music creators during the pandemic unfortunately did not reach the pockets of those for whom the sums were intended. It was SOCAN’s responsibility to make sure. The Government of Quebec must hold SOCAN accountable for the undistributed sums intended for music creators and publishers,” added in writing David Murphy, who is a member of the Association des music publishing (APEM).
A “completely distinct” reality in Quebec
David Murphy initiated a class action lawsuit filed last year against SOCAN in a completely different matter. He criticizes SOCAN for having changed for a short period the way of calculating royalties from songs played on the radio, which considerably disadvantaged Quebec artists.
The Professional Society of Authors and Composers of Quebec (SPACQ) accuses SOCAN, a pan-Canadian organization, of being somewhat disconnected from the Quebec reality. The delays in the delivery of COVID aid are once again proof of this, according to Ariane Charbonneau, the president of the SPACQ. “Quebec’s reality is completely different. Here, every dollar counts, and we expect a copyright collective management society to collect all the amounts available,” she points out.
It is true that once redistributed among the myriad of rights holders in Quebec, the pandemic aid from SODEC and CALQ only represents small amounts. We often talk about checks for a few hundred dollars, at most a few thousand dollars. But these amounts are no less important, says Jérôme Payette, the general manager of the Association of Music Publishing Professionals (APEM).
“SOCAN has moved away [au cours des dernières années] of what is being done in Quebec. We have a very special relationship with our industry, where every dollar counts, and obviously SOCAN has missed a few lately,” he adds.
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