Published 05/29/2014By Andrew Berthoff
SOCAN has once again made a little music industry history with the announcement of the music industry’s first major trophy that is actually a musical instrument in itself.
“The SOCAN” will be presented for the first time to the special achievement winners at the SOCAN Awards in Toronto on June 16, 2014, at the Westin Harbour Castle, and to future special achievement recipients at our French and English awards.
The idea for the trophy/instrument/artwork came back in November at a brainstorming session with a very small group. The kernel of concept began and grew into a “What if…” dream of doing something elegant, respectful and very different.
From that small group having the courage and encouragement to think big, to think different, and to know that every idea is potentially a great idea, the concept ultimately turned into something very different and, we think, meaningful and emblematic of what kind of organization SOCAN is.
We sourced the right partners to make the dream a reality, and the final result is a lasting first for SOCAN and the world music industry.
The SOCAN will be an ongoing image of the SOCAN Awards, as we integrate the image into almost everything we do to communicate the events going forward. The SOCAN will be closely identified with the SOCAN Awards, or, “The SOCANs,” as we also more casually call them.
Often the greatest ideas are the most obvious ones, but they’re often either overlooked or not mentioned for fear of embarrassment or failure. But throughout my career in communications and marketing, the majority of my “Eureka!” moments are those that, after the fact, seemed to be sitting there all along, right in front of us.
The SOCAN we think is an idea that will resonate and sustain– literally and musically – for many years, and we hope you like it.