SOCAN for music producers and composers
SOCAN is the Canadian society for performing rights, and it can manage reproduction rights too. Here is how it works for a producer or composer, as of October 2026.
- Type
- Rights society
- How to join
- Join as a memberFree for writers, renews every two years
- AI-made music
- With limitsPartly AI works with human authorship, not fully AI
In short. SOCAN collects performance royalties for songwriters, composers and publishers, and can manage reproduction (mechanical) rights. Membership is free, and it renews every two years. You need at least one work that was published, recorded or performed in public. SOCAN registers works that mix AI and human writing, but not fully AI works. Its new portal pays on the shares it knows and holds the rest until the shares are complete.
How to join
Writers. You must "Be a music composer, songwriter, producer or lyricist". You must also have written all or part of a work that was published by a music publisher, recorded, or performed in public in a place SOCAN licenses.
- Fee. "There is no cost to become a SOCAN member."
- Term. "Your membership will be renewed every two years automatically," unless you tell SOCAN in writing that you want to leave.
- Living abroad. SOCAN's sign-up page does not say whether you must live in Canada. Ask SOCAN before you apply from outside Canada.
Publishers need signed contracts for at least five works written or co-written by a SOCAN writer member or by a Canadian.
Reproduction rights. Writers and publishers can also let SOCAN manage their reproduction rights. The new portal calls these "Mechanical" shares.
AI-generated music
On 28 October 2025 SOCAN, ASCAP and BMI announced the same policy. A partly AI-generated work, "one that combines elements of AI-generated musical content with elements of human authorship", can be registered with each society. "Musical compositions that are entirely created using AI tools" cannot. SOCAN points to its AI Registration Guidelines for details. More: Can you sell AI music?
Codes, Content ID and royalties
SOCAN is moving to a new system that handles both rights. Its guide to the new portal, from January 2026, says:
- One catalogue. Your works and cues show together.
- Shares. SOCAN "will no longer require that a work registration has 100% of the shares" to pay. If only 60% of the shares are known, that 60% is paid, and the rest is held until the full shares are known.
- Statuses. A new registration can be a Draft, then Draft Submitted (still editable), then Registered.
- Changes. You change a work by copying it, editing and submitting. Sometimes SOCAN confirms the details first.
- Search by any code, such as ISWC, ISRC or Work Code, or by title or contributor.
- Download your catalogue as CSV, or as CWR, the format publishers use for large catalogues.
- Self-published. If you have your own registered publishing company, you can link it to your works.
- Samples. You can attach papers for authorized samples.
Codes explained: ISRC, ISWC and UPC.
How you are paid
"SOCAN makes royalty payments of $0.25 or more to its members on a quarterly basis." Members who earn under $500 in a quarter are paid only by direct deposit.
What to keep in your catalog
- The SOCAN Work Code and the ISWC of each work.
- The status of each registration: Draft, Draft Submitted or Registered.
- All the shares, so no part of a work's royalties is held back.
- Cues you registered for film or TV.
- AI use for each work.