Canadian collecting society Socan has announced another year of record collections and distributions, which it says was buoyed by “a rising tide of Canadian music success around the world”.
The society’s revenues grew by 11% to at least $374m, while its distributions to members grew from $295m in 2017 to $315m last year. “Royalties from non-Canadian sources are the #1 revenue stream for SOCAN members, reflecting the incredible strength of Canadian talent and SOCAN’s repertoire, a 70% five-year increase,” noted the PRO.
However, Socan also drew attention to songwriters’ and publishers’ share of the burgeoning streaming market. It expects to generate around $62m of collections from ‘internet-based licensed music’ in 2018 – up 27% year-on-year – but still thinks its members have cause for complaint. “While overall revenues from digitally-delivered performances of music continue to climb, music creators and publishers on average are yet to see earnings commensurate with the value that their work brings to these online corporations,” said CEO Eric Baptiste. “to put it in perspective, the average Socan member who earned royalties in 2018 realized only $54 from domestic digital sources in the entire year. This has to improve.”
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