Describe your background and industry experience, and explain how it will help you contribute to the SOCAN Board of Directors?
I have been active in music publishing, in sound recording production and, depending on the period, in the production of electroacoustic music concerts since 1990, I have also been called upon to sit on the boards of directors of several organizations, including the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM), the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), the SOCAN Foundation, SODRAC and the Association des professionnels de l’édition musicale (APEM).
After listening to various stakeholders and identifying the challenges ahead, my role has often been to suggest and devise potential solutions.
The musical work—from its creation to its distribution and access—remains the focal point of my approach.
In your opinion, what issues will be most important to SOCAN members over the next three years?
I can’t guess what the most important issues are for SOCAN members, apart from the obvious one: fair, sensitive and finely tuned fulfillment of its primary mandate of distributing royalties to rights holders.
For their part, however, Board members must keep abreast of external developments (avenues music promotion, international law, national law) and internal rules (licensing, distribution), while remaining vigilant to always favour nuanced communication with members.