Describe your background and industry experience, and explain how it will help you contribute to the SOCAN Board of Directors?
As the cofounding member of duo Alfa Rococo, I have been in charge of the creation and production of the band’s four albums and hundreds of live shows. Alfa Rococo won two Félix awards in 2008 and was nominated over a dozen more times since. The band has won several SOCAN Awards for its multiple #1 chart hits. In a career that spans more than 20 years, I’ve participated in numerous musical projects and played at many festivals in Quebec and abroad. I have long been interested in the compensation mechanisms for creators in the new digital music economy alongside my artistic activities. This is what led me to create the RAM (Regroupement des artisans de la Musique) in the fall of 2016, with the goal of giving a unified voice to the artisans of the music sector so that we can create a fairer economic model for artists. In addition to having served on the last SOCAN Board of Directors, I also sit on the Boards of SPACQ, Union des artistes (UDA) and ARTISTI. Thanks to these experiences, I believe I have acquired a great deal of knowledge that enables me to be a relevant director who is aware of what is going on in our industry at a high level, but also at the ground level, and who continues to bring his insights to SOCAN’s royalty management and distribution mechanisms.
In your opinion, what issues will be most important to SOCAN members over the next three years?
A major technological change is taking place at SOCAN. The entire distribution system will be modernized, and the web portal will be revised and improved. We need to ensure that this new technology enables members to receive their royalties more accurately, more quickly and more frequently, and that we have more data about the use of our works. As a francophone director from Quebec, I am committed to preserving and enhancing the place that our language and culture deserve on the Board of Directors and at SOCAN in general. On a more political level, I’d like to be involved in finding solutions to the problem of the low number of listeners to our local music on the platforms. This aspect of the digital music ecosystem is essential for creators to once again be properly compensated for the use of their works. We will also begin a period of consultation with the CRTC on the regulation of online music platforms. The outcome of these consultations is important, and we need to make sure that the web giants better compensate the creators who are the first link in the chain of their business model.