TORONTO, Nov. 17 /CNW/ - SOCAN (The Society of Composers Authors and
Music Publishers of Canada) and the best of Canada's music industry came
together tonight at the Carlu to honour some of this country's most talented
songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers at the 19th annual
SOCAN Awards Gala. Co-hosted by Abdominal, George Canyon and Rob Carli, the
SOCAN Awards acknowledged members' and other music industry influencers'
outstanding achievements from the previous year. SOCAN members Tom Cochrane,
Chantal Kreviazuk, Tal Bachman, Dan Hill and Ron Hynes, among many others,
were in attendance to accept their awards.
Members of the Weakerthans opened the show with an unforgettable
performance that included their ECHO Songwriting Prize-winning "Night
Windows." Later in the evening George Canyon and Ron Hynes took the stage
together to perform Ron's own "Sonny's Dream."
Other awards recipients included: Avril Lavigne for "Keep Holding On,"
"When You're Gone" and "Girlfriend;" Nelly Furtado for "Say It Right" and "All
Good Things Come To An End;" Michael Bublé for "Everything;" Tom Cochrane for
"Life Is A Highway;" Aaron Lines for "Cheaper To Keep Her;" and Leonard Cohen
for "Ain't No Cure," "Suzanne," and "First We Take Manhattan" in the SOCAN
Classics category.
A complete list of winners for the 2008 SOCAN Awards can be found at
www.socan.ca
"The SOCAN Awards are a very important evening for us at SOCAN. Not only
does this special event provide a unique opportunity for the industry to
celebrate some of Canada's great musical success stories - from
songwriter- artists to other industry leaders - it also serves as an inspiring
evening for many," says André LeBel, CEO of SOCAN. "At SOCAN, the awards
signify just how much we truly value the contributions of our members and
individuals to Canada's music industry, which is why we have dedicated
ourselves to presenting the SOCAN Awards for almost twenty years now." The
SOCAN Awards is just one example of how SOCAN strives to advance the efforts
of its members and Canada's thriving music industry.
Each year, SOCAN celebrates music industry pioneers for their involvement
in the Canadian music industry and their outstanding successes throughout
their careers. Recipients of SOCAN's major achievement awards this year went
to Oscar Peterson, who received the Special Achievement Award; Ray Griff, who
received the Lifetime Achievement Award; Ron Hynes, who received The National
Achievement Award; and Nickelback, who received the International Achievement
Award.
SOCAN will recognize outstanding Francophone music creators and
publishers at an awards gala on Tuesday November 25 at the Hotel Omni
Mont-Royal in Montreal. SOCAN members K-Maro, Gilles Vigneault and Arcade
Fire, to name a few, will join host France D'Amour in celebration of this
year's SOCAN award recipients.
About SOCAN
At SOCAN, we understand that the Canadian music industry is only as
strong as the sum of its parts. We are proud to play a leading role, working
with other organizations to ensure the long-term health of our members'
livelihoods and the Canadian music industry as a whole. SOCAN is the Canadian
copyright collective for the communication and performance of musical works.
We administer these rights on behalf of our members (composers, lyricists,
songwriters and their publishers) and those of affiliated international
organizations by licensing this use of their music in Canada. The fees
collected are distributed as royalties to our members and to affiliated
organizations throughout the world. We also distribute royalties received from
those organizations to our members for the use of their music worldwide. SOCAN
has offices in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Dartmouth.
For more information about how we're doing what's right for music, please
visit us at www.socan.ca./NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: A photo accompanying this release is available on
the CNW Photo Network and archived at http://photos.newswire.ca.
Additional archived images are also available on the CNW Photo Archive
website at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free to accredited
members of the media/
For further information: Cara McCutcheon, McCutcheon Communications,
Phone: (416) 406-4044, Cell: (416) 557-2139, E-mail:
cara@mccutcheoncommunications.com
