Howard Jordan • SOCAN Board of Directors Election

Describe your background and industry experience, and explain how it will help you contribute to the SOCAN Board of Directors?

I am the Creative Director and Global Head of A&R of CCS Rights Management (CCS) and Daytripper Music Publishing, and I oversee the signings and development of up-and-coming and award-winning artists, songwriters, and producers. I am a member of Music Publishers Canada and an advisor to the events committee. I am also the co-chair of the MPC NxtGen task force which works to educate and support the next generation of music publishing executives. I have extensive experience collaborating with international publishers which gives me unique insight into the issues happening around the world that may affect our community here at home. Having spent the past 10 years working for a Canadian owned and operated company, with a roster of Canadian songwriters, I have an incredibly strong and vested interest in the wants and needs of Canadian publishers. I have also worked tirelessly to educate other sectors of the music industry on the importance and value of music publishing and with my years of executive experience would bring a fresh perspective to the board and I will continue to hold SOCAN accountable to music publishers and songwriters alike.

In your opinion, what issues will be most important to SOCAN members over the next three years?

There are a number of issues facing SOCAN members at the moment, including but not limited to:

The looming issue of AI and how to properly compensate writers/publishers and assign copyright (or not) .
The continuing war on the value of music from licensors.
Acquisition of SOCAN members by American PROs.
SOCAN Members should expect the best technology to be employed to provide a functional, intuitive, and reliable user experience when it comes to the services SOCAN provides. SOCAN’s continued focus should be to strive to provide the best and most timely service possible to members which in turn will greatly increase client retention as well as attract new members.