Village Gamer

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has announced its 2011 financial results, highlighting the further continuation of the positive trends observed in 2010: stronger collections and higher distributions to members.

Total revenue was $267 million, a 3.7 percent increase year over year if excluding the one-time internet arrears revenue of $17 million reported in 2010’s revenue.

SOCAN distributed a record-setting $262 million to songwriters, composers and publishers in 2011. However, this figure included the special distributions of radio and ringtones arrears, and the first-ever distribution of satellite radio arrears under Tariff 25. If these one-time arrears payments are excluded, SOCAN’s regular distributions in 2011 were $214 million, a $19 million or 7.1 percent increase from 2010 ($195 million).

The overall net expense ratio remained the same as 2010 at 14.3 percent. As a result, 86 cents of each dollar that SOCAN collected were distributed to members.

Traditional media (cable, TV, radio) revenue increased 3.5 percent. International revenue increased 8.3 percent to $46 million due to strong member activity abroad, proactive relationship management with affiliated music rights organizations around the world, and a slightly weaker Canadian dollar.

“2011 represented another strong year for SOCAN and our incredibly talented music creator and publisher members” said Eric Baptiste, CEO of SOCAN. “We distributed a record-setting amount of royalties by licensing music usage in more businesses, expanded our membership pool, and kept our expenses in check. What this all means is more money went into the hands of our members, something SOCAN strives to accomplish each year.”