Here Are the SOCAN Songwriting Prize Finalists
The finalists for the SOCAN Songwriting Prize have finally been announced. Each of the 10 English and 10 French finalists were determined from independent panels of 15 music industry experts. The experts were asked to nominate two songs from any genre that they thought were the best in the past year by emerging songwriters. To qualify, the musicians could not have released more than two full albums until the end of the eligibility period. The songs were then compiled, judged, and voted by each panel and narrowed down to the final 10.
The winner of the SOCAN Songwriting Prize is to be determined by online and social media voting. There will be both an English winner and a French winner. Each winner will get $10,000 cash, a choice between two brands of Godin Guitars (a Seagull Artist Studio CW guitar or Godin 5th Avenue Jazz guitar), a Yamaha PSR-S970 keyboard, and a $500 gift card from Long & McQuade.
You can vote for two weeks between June 9-23, 2016, at socansongwritingprize.ca for the English nominees or prixchansonsocan.ca for the French nominees. Or if Twitter is more your thing, use #mySSPvote and identify the musicians name in your tweet. You can vote one time daily on each platform for both the English and French competitions.
Here are the English nominees:
- “Black Body” – written by Benjamin Addy and Renee Wisdom, performed by Spek Won feat. Shi Wisdom
- “Dead or Alive” – written by Jahmarie Adams and Michael Lantz; performed by Jazz Cartier
- “Desire” – written by Kathleen Monks, Benjamin Reinhartz, James Rowlinson, and Elizabeth Ball; performed by Dilly Dally
- “How Could You Babe” – written and performed by Tobias Jesso Jr; published by Universal Music Publishing
- “Julia” – written by Matthew Mcleod; performed by Fast Romantics
- “No hurry” – written and performed by Terra Lightfoot; published by CCS Rights Management Corp
- “Paradise” written by Ashton Simmonds, Matthew Burnett, Jordan Evans, Alexander Sowinski, Matthew Tavares, Leland Whitty, Chester Hansen, and Keaven Yazdani; performed by Daniel Caesar feat. BADBADNOTGOOD and Sean Leon; published by Reclusive Music Inc. and Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd. Canada, and Robinson Heart Publishing.
- “Pen to Paper” – written by Sean Graham and Thomas “Twags” Salter; performed by Modern Space; published by Sony/ATV
- “Spirits” – written by Simon Ward, Jeremy Drury, Jonathan Hembry, Darryl G.J. James, Brian Leigh Pickett, David Ritter, Joanne Setterington, and Isabel Cunningham Ritchie; performed by The Strumbellas; published by Domino Double Nine
- “Wendell Walker” – written and performed by Andy Shauf; published by Peer International Ltd. (Canada) and Music of the Mothership
The 10 French finalists for the 2016 Prix de la chanson SOCAN, the contest’s Francophone counterpart are:
- “Avalanches” written and performed by Félix Dyotte; published by Coyote Records
- “Avant de disparaître” – written and performed by Claude Bégin; published by Coyote Records
- “Crystel” – written and performed by Philippe Brach; published by Equispec Les Ed
- “Igloo” – written and performed by Safia Nolin
- “Les coûteaux à beurre” – written by Melanie Boulay and Jean Sebastian Houle; performed by Les sœurs Boulay; published by Dare to Care Les Ed
- “Les échardes” written and performed by Charlotte Cardin; published by Corico Arts Inc.
- “Olympe” – written and performed by Rosie Valland; published by Ambiances Ambiques and David Murphey et Cie
- “Placebo” – written by Alexe Gaudreault and John Nathaniel; performed by Alexe Gaudreault; published by John Nathaniel Prod Inc
- “Rêves d’été” – written and performed Laurence Nerbonne; published by Coyote Records
- “Saratoga” – written by Chantal Archambault and Michel Olivier Gasse; Performed by Saratoga; published by Ambiances Ambiques Ed
