GenderQueeries - SOCAN, Rights and Metadata

Registering with SOCAN

If you're signed to a label / PRO, they will handle this (truly annoying) bureaucracy for you. They usually can't be trusted to handle legal names properly, see below on how to fix it.

To become a SOCAN member, music creators must meet the following criteria:

Be a music composer, songwriter, producer or lyricist.
Have created a musical work or part of a musical work that has been:
- - Published by a music publisher; or
  - Recorded; or
  - Performed (or will be) in a public forum (i.e. radio, television, film, live performance, satellite radio, ringtone or internet) subject to licensing by SOCAN (i.e Coop Radio)

https://www.socan.com/sign-up-for-performing-rights/

Their form is pretty simple, but has been randomly broken for about the last 3 years. If you get an error after submitting everything, just wait a day and resubmit.

Canadians: How to change your name with SOCAN and ensure royalties continue

Change your name legally, wait for the legal name change certificate to arrive.
Contact SOCAN members@socan.com or call 1-866-307-6226. You'll send in a copy of your legal name change certificate.
Ask them to change your name and add a pseudonym to your account for your deadname to ensure royalties for old content still come to you. Pseudonyms will show ONLY in SOCAN's internal database.

Note that IPI pseudonyms are public and it's possible for people to figure out your deadname if your old work is accessible.

It's also a good idea to make sure your address is correct if you've moved recently and a few days after the change is submitted, verify your information has been updated at this link.

How to name and organize your files when sending them out

Radio stations OFTEN get attachments like

UNTITLED01.WAV

UNTITLED02.WAV

...

It's a pain to sort through, it's a pain to queue up, it's pain to log. It reduces your chances of getting music played.

Create a google drive shared folder / dropbox shared folder and use the following folder and file structure

Folder: ArtistName

Your main OneSheet.pdf

A PDF with shortcuts to your website, bandcamp, apple music, etc

High Res Press Photo.jpg

Sub Folder: (year) AlbumName

ArtistName - Album Name - ## (track number) - Name of Song.mp3

AlbumOneSheet.pdf (if you have one)

AlbumArt.jpg (high res is best)

For song names / album names, avoid characters that don't work well with Windows. No * / \ etc. You can find unicode characters that work, but an anti virus might flag it. Keep it simple.

Make sure your files have metadata - not just the usual ID3 tags like Title, Author, Album, etc but also the ISWC number (see below)

If you're hoping to submit to radio shows that air before 9pm, strongly consider making a "clean" (no profanity) edit. Canadian broadcast regulations frown on any profanity before 9pm. It might still play, but you don't want to give a producer any excuse to dump your track.

People used to email .zip files of their albums, but you'll run into an email size limit even with MP3s. There are "share big files" sites, but they often look unprofessional / are scummy and filled with questionable ads. If you're sending a single, 1 MP3 file attached to an email might work, otherwise use a google drive.

Metadata / MP3 Tags / Royalties

This is such a headache, but you're far less likely to get airplay on a bigger broadcast station / CBC if you do not include a ISWC code in the file metadata / your email to the radio show. The easiest way to set this up is for your performing rights organization / publisher to do it for you.

How Royalties Work

In Canada, SOCAN automatically receives metadata info from platforms (Census and CBC radio stations, internet and AV)

Your song plays, SOCAN gets a copy of the Title of the song, the ISWC code and the IPI number.

With "Survey" (smaller) stations like Coop Radio, the station is told to send in their logsheets for up to 14 days a year. SOCAN picks these dates. ISWC data might not be sent, so it's very important to make sure the show has your exact name as it is registered in SOCAN, or you may not get credit for the airplay.

We've had issues where we've played people's music but they hadn't updated their info in SOCAN (i.e. SOCAN only has their deadname)

On our log sheets, we write down your name, the song name and send that to SOCAN.
SOCAN doesn't know who you are if you don't have a pseudonym set up with them (see below)
You get NO credit for the airplay.

If you've had a lot of airplay that hasn't been recorded because of this, contact SOCAN - members@socan.com / 1-866-307-6226 ASAP

Definitions

ISWC - International Standard Musical Work Code - uniquely identifies a specific song, looks like T-345246800-1.
ISRC - International Standard Recording Code - uniquely identifies a specific recording of the song (to differentiate between a studio and live recording) Looks like "ISRC AA-6Q7-20-00047"
Interested Party Information (IPI) Number - Both ISWCs and IPI numbers are internationally-accepted codes attached to an underlying musical composition. But an ISWC refers to a song or score, whereas IPIs represent the entitled parties on that song or score – the songwriters, composers, publishers, etc. A song with multiple co-writers will have multiple IPI numbers connected to it. But it will only have one ISWC.

Don't know these numbers?

Your performing rights organization / publisher will have this info, or look it up with the appropriate CMO

Canadians - SOCAN
USA: ASCAP BMI
Europe-ish: SESAC

For best practices,

Include the ISRC code in the metadata. MP3 Tag is a free program that lets you do this, directions to set MP3Tag to do it are here.
Add the ISWC / IPI to the comment tag

Types of Radio Stations in Canada for Royalty Purposes

Census (RCEN): Census stations are defined as stations for which SOCAN receives 100% performance-data, including all stations monitored by Mediabase or Nielsen Broadcast Data Services (BDS) - This is most large stations
Survey (RSUR): Survey stations are defined as stations that SOCAN surveys for a 3 or 4 day period each quarter of the year, to a maximum of 14 days per year. These are typically smaller, indie stations (i.e. Coop Radio)
CBC (RCBC): CBC stations are defined as any local, regional or national CBC station across Canada. 100% performance data provided for the network and regional programming as well as sample for local programs.

What is CanCon? More than you think!

To qualify as Canadian content a musical selection must generally fulfil at least two of the following conditions (or just one if recorded prior to January 1972)

M (music) — the music is composed entirely by a Canadian
A (artist) — the music is, or the lyrics are, performed principally by a Canadian
P (performance) — the musical selection consists of a performance that is:
- Recorded wholly in Canada, or
- Performed wholly in Canada and broadcast live in Canada.
L (lyrics) — the lyrics are written entirely by a Canadian

For the purposes of MAPL, a "Canadian" refers to a citizen, permanent resident, someone whose "ordinary place of residence" has been in Canada prior to their contribution to the musical selection, or someone who is a CRTC licensee.

A musical selection may also qualify as Canadian content if it:

Is an instrumental performance of a composition by a Canadian.
Is a "performance of a musical composition that a Canadian has composed for instruments only."
Was performed live or recorded after September 1, 1991, meets the criteria for either artist or performance, and a Canadian receives at least half of the credit for music and lyrics.

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Registering with SOCAN

Canadians: How to change your name with SOCAN and ensure royalties continue

How to name and organize your files when sending them out

Metadata / MP3 Tags / Royalties

What is CanCon? More than you think!

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