CHANGES
AEMCON Organizers Create
Virtual Electronic Music Summit
The organizers of the annual Alberta Electronic
Music Conference have announced the creation of
the Virtual Electronic Music Summit.
Taking place from June 4-7, 2020, the goal of the
free four-day virtual conference is to connect, edu-
cate, and inspire electronic music industry profes-
sionals, emerging artists, brands, and fans who have
been affected by COVID-19. It will involve a series
of online workshops, panel discussions, Q&As, and
keynote speakers.
“We hope that this event will involve you in a
variety of industry-focused conversations, empower
your careers, and ultimately give you a bit of hope
for the future. With the cascading announcements
of festival cancellations, we hope this event can act
as a lift for our community,” organizers say.
For more information, go to
www.albertaelectronicmusic.com/vems.
… According to Billboard, Apple Music
has created a $50-million advance fund
to help indie labels and distributors get
through the COVID-19 downturn. With
the fund, it’s providing one-time pay-
ments on future royalties to indie labels
and distributors that earn over $10,000
per quarter. To receive the advances, the
labels and distributors cannot be distrib-
uted by a major label and must have a
direct distribution deal with Apple Music.
16 CANADIAN MUSICIAN
2020 Canadian Folk Music Awards Winners Revealed
Via Livestream
The 2020 Canadian Folk Music Awards were presented during a livestream on April
4 th via the CFMAs’ Facebook page and website. The bilingual broadcast, hosted by
Jean Hewson and Benoit Bourque, announced all 20 awards, including the presen-
tation of the Slaight Unsung Hero Award to Nova Scotia’s Donnie Campbell. It was
also announced that the 2021 CFMAs will be held in Charlottetown, PE. This year’s
awards were originally scheduled for the weekend of April 3-4 in Charlottetown
but were cancelled because of COVID-19.
Manitoba duo The Small Glories received three CFMAs – Contemporary Album
of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year, and Ensemble of the Year. Matt Andersen won
Contemporary Singer of the Year, Abigail Lapell won English Songwriter of the Year,
and Irish Mythen won Solo Artist of the Year.
For a full list of winners, go to www.folkawards.ca.
Eric Baptiste Resigns From
SOCAN; Jennifer Brown
Named Interim CEO
On April 14 th , Canadian performing rights
organization SOCAN announced the
unexpected and immediate resignation of
Eric Baptiste as its CEO. Jennifer Brown, the
senior VP of operations and reproduction
rights, has been appointed as the interim
CEO during the formal process of identify-
ing a permanent CEO.
Baptiste was named CEO of SOCAN
ERIC BAPTISTE
in 2010. Under his leadership, the PRO
regularly achieved new records in music licensing collected. In 2019, its collections
exceeded $400-million for the first time.
In its statement, SOCAN says the decision is “purely coincidental to the current
COVID-19 crisis” and that the organization continues to operate at full capacity.
With the end of the current CEO contract approaching, SOCAN says that Baptiste
thought it was time to move on and a mutual decision was reached with the
board to end his tenure now.
Brown has been on SOCAN’s executive team for nearly 10 years. She was previ-
ously VP of the organization's licensing department and has worked with SOCAN
for more than two decades.
For more information, contact SOCAN: 866-307-6226, www.socan.ca.
… Throughout late-March and early-April,
Facebook Canada and the National Arts
Centre partnered on a $100,000 relief fund
that paid Canadian artists for their live
online performances. Facebook provided
the funding and the NAC administered ap-
plications from artists who posted a 45- to
60-minute online performance. Hosted on
the NAC’s Facebook page and discoverable
by searching #CanadaPerforms, perfor-
mances are still being scheduled through
the spring, though applications are now
closed.
www.nac-cna.ca/en/canadaperforms.