SOCAN Cultural Impact Award
Hit Me With Your Best Shot written by Eddie Schwartz
The SOCAN Cultural Impact Award was created to honour music by a SOCAN member that has had a significant lasting cultural impact on society in Canada and/or beyond its borders.
SOCAN Guardian Award
The SOCAN Guardian Award is presented to an individual or group who, by successfully advocating for change, have had a significant and lasting positive impact on the lives of Canadian music creators.
View All Recipients
Terry Brown – Founder of CIRPA
Paul Clinch* – Founder of CIRPA
Frank Davies – Love Productions, Founder of CIRPA
Don DiNovo* – Lighthouse
Bob Ezrin – Founder of CIRPA
Bernie Finkelstein – True North Records, Founder of CIRPA
Tommy Graham – Founder of CIRPA
Walt Grealis – RPM Magazine
Greg Hambleton – Founder of CIRPA
Kelly Jay* – Crowbar
Pierre Juneau* – Chairman, Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC)
Stan Klees – RPM Magazine, Founder of CIRPA
Betty Layton* – SOCAN/BMI Canada
Allan MacMillan – Founder of CIRPA
Alexander Mair – Early Morning Productions
Ben McPeek* – Founder of CIRPA
John Mills* – SOCAN/CAPAC
Harold Moon* -SOCAN/BMI Canada
Skip Prokop* – Lighthouse
Jack Richardson* – Nimbus 9 Productions, Founder of CIRPA
Mel Shaw – Founding President of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (CARAS)
Art Snider* – Founder of CIRPA
Pierre Elliott Trudeau* – Prime Minister
Ritchie Yorke* – Billboard, The Globe & Mail
*Posthumously honoured
Welcome to the 2021 SOCAN Awards
A message from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Hit Me With Your Best Shot
SOCAN Rock Music Award Winner JJ Wilde plays an inspired version of the international hit written by Cultural Impact Award recipient, Eddie Schwartz.
Get to Know the Winners
Ian Cusson
SOCAN Jan V. Matejcek Award winner Ian Cusson discusses his composing throughout 2020, his work on diversity at the Banff Centre for the Arts, how he first discovered opera, and his very collaborative music-writing process.
Harm Franklin
Harm Franklin talks about how he co-wrote the SOCAN Award-winning song “Stunnin’,” celebrated his success with the song “Last Year,” and plans to mix Punjabi with English as he moves forward.
Tate McRae
The billion-streaming, teenaged, pop singer-songwriter and SOCAN Breakout Songwriter Award winner tells us how she co-wrote her breakthrough song, how her writing process works, and how she retains control of her career.
Madeline Merlo
Madeline Merlo tells the amazing Cinderella story of how co-writing the SOCAN Award-winning song “Champagne Night” completely changed her life.
Cheryl Link with Lido Pimienta
The winner of SOCAN’s 2021 Publisher of the Year Award and Hagood Hardy Award (for global music) and discuss how they work together to discover and leverage opportunities to further the songwriter’s career.