Sweet Success for Achievement Award-Winners at the SOCANs

Toronto, June 8, 2017 – The sweet success of Canada’s most accomplished songwriters, composers and music publishers will be honoured at the 29th annual SOCAN Awards on June 19th in downtown Toronto, where Canadian rock legends of the last three decades will mix with today’s hottest Canadian producers, writers and publishers of urban, country, rock, film & television, jazz, electronic dance, folk-roots, pop and classical music.

Honourees will include:

• Bryan Adams & Jim Vallance – Canada’s greatest songwriting duo of the last 30 years will be honoured with the SOCAN Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the music industry’s greatest accolades.
• Nineteen85 – SOCAN Songwriter of the Year Award. The Grammy-winning Scarborough, Ontario-based producer behind many of SOCAN member Drake’s biggest songs, including “One Dance,” “Hotline Bling,” and “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” and hits by Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Hudson and Majid Jordan.
• 2017 JUNO Awards Breakthrough Artist of the Year Ruth B, country star Jess Moskaluke, global megastar Shawn Mendes, and international alternative R&B sensation Alessia Cara.
• “Sugar, Sugar” by Andy Kim – few songs made in Canada have achieved such global popularity as the immediately lovable 1969 hit co-written by one of Montréal’s favourite sons, who will receive the SOCAN Cultural Impact Award.

“Nowhere in Canada is such diversity of music creation and publishing celebrated as exuberantly as at the SOCAN Awards,” said SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste. “We will be honouring lifetime careers, recent bursts of global success, culturally significant songs and compositions and the business acumen of music publishers in equal measure. As with our counterpart awards gala in Montréal, the SOCANs are a night that is unique in the Canadian music ecosystem.”

“The SOCANs” will include live performances by world-renowned songwriter Ron Sexsmith; Derin Falana and Tay of The Remix Project; JUNO Award-winning alt-rockers July Talk; Jess Moskaluke; superstar film and television composer Keith Power; DJ-singer-songwriter-producer Shaun Frank; dance/electronic artist Delaney Jane; Ruth B; and a few surprise special guests. The show will be hosted by TV and radio personality Arisa Cox.

SOCAN achievement award winners are determined collaboratively between the Membership Committee of the SOCAN Board of Directors and leaders in the SOCAN Membership department.

More than 50 awards will be presented on the night for success in songwriting, composing and music publishing based on SOCAN data compiled over the last calendar year.

SOCAN Achievement Award winners will receive “The SOCAN” – the world’s first and only music industry trophy that’s also a musical instrument, incorporating five custom bronze crotales, tuned this year especially with notes from the chorus of “Summer of 69” by Adams and Vallance.

The full list of this year’s SOCAN Award winners will be released on the evening of June 19, 2017.

Sponsors of the 2017 SOCAN Awards are Gowling WLG, KPMG, Long & McQuade, Music Canada, Ontario Media Development Corporation, and Yamaha Canada. Official charity partner: Unison Benevolent Fund.

The SOCAN Awards have been held since 1990 as an annual show in Toronto and the Gala de la SOCAN in Montréal, which celebrates and honours the work of SOCAN’s Francophone members.

About SOCAN
SOCAN connects more than four-million music creators worldwide and more than a quarter-million businesses and individuals in Canada. Nearly 150,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers are its direct members, and more than 130,000 organizations are Licensed To Play music across Canada. With a concerted use of progressive technology and a commitment to lead the global transformation of music rights, with wholly-owned companies Audiam and MediaNet, SOCAN is dedicated to upholding the fundamental truths that music has value and music creators and publishers deserve fair compensation for their work. For more information: www.socan.ca

Media contacts:
Environics Communications (for SOCAN): Valerie Burnatowski, 416-969-2717, vburnatowski@environicspr.com
SOCAN: Nicole Van Severen, 416-445-8700, ext. 3784, Nicole.VanSeveren@socan.com