Describe your background and industry experience, and explain how it will help you contribute to the SOCAN Board of Directors?
Next year Iâll be celebrating 20 years as a singer-songwriter. This career, rich in experience and emotion, has taken me to perform and create throughout the French-speaking world in Canada, Europe and even Africa.
I have 6 albums of original songs to my credit as well as several collaborations as an author and composer (2FrĂšres, Kizaba, Willows, Marie-Ăve Janvier, Cristobal Tapia de Veer, etc.). Over the years, I have had the good fortune to be the recipient of many awards and nominations for my records and songs. I still think songwriting is the best job in the world, and although weâre going through some tough times, I believe in the future. I believe that my experience, my integrity, my sensitivity to the rights of Francophones in this country and my well-established network of contacts will help me contribute to the SOCAN board. Iâm a quiet force who can adapt, communicate, share my ideas, and defend the values of my community.
I also sit on the boards of Artisti and SPACQ (sociĂ©tĂ© professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du QuĂ©bec) and was recently involved in the inclusion of entrepreneurial artists in the new SPACQ-AE. Iâm committed to the stability and security of artists in this rapidly changing world.
In your opinion, what issues will be most important to SOCAN members over the next three years?
I believe there will be three major issues facing SOCANâs members over the next three years.
- Fair and transparent distribution of royalties for years to come.
- How to protect creators from artificial intelligence in the near future.
- How to get the major streaming platforms more financially involved in copyright and publishing rights. I think the music industry is moving more and more to a place where creatorsâ rights need to be compensated more fairly and equitably.