Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 159, Number 22: SUPPLEMENT 2

May 31, 2025

SUPPLEMENT 2 Vol. 159, No. 22

Canada Gazette

Part I

OTTAWA, Saturday, May 31, 2025

COPYRIGHT BOARD

SOCAN Tariff 1.A – Commercial Radio Tariff (2014-2018)

Citation: SOCAN Tariff 1.A – Commercial Radio (2014-2018), 2025 CB 2-T

See also: SOCAN Tariff 1.A – Commercial Radio (2014-2018), 2025 CB 2

Published pursuant to section 70.1 of the Copyright Act

Greg Gallo
Acting Secretary General
1‑833‑860‑7131 (toll-free number)
1‑833‑369‑0396 (TTY)
registry-greffe@cb-cda.gc.ca (email)

SOCAN TARIFF 1.A – COMMERCIAL RADIO (2014-2018)

Short Title

1. This tariff may be cited as SOCAN Tariff 1.A – Commercial Radio (2014-2018).

Definitions

2. In this tariff,

“gross income”
means the gross amounts paid by any person for the use of one or more broadcasting services or facilities provided by a station’s operator, including the value of any goods or services provided by any person in exchange for the use of such services or facilities, and the fair market value of non-monetary consideration (e.g. barter or “contra”), but excluding the following:
  • (a) income accruing from investments, rents or any other business unrelated to the station’s broadcasting activities. However, income accruing from any allied or subsidiary business that is a necessary adjunct to the station’s broadcasting services and facilities or which results in their being used, including the gross amounts received by a station pursuant to turn-key contracts with advertisers, shall be included in the “gross income”;
  • (b) amounts received for the production of a program that is commissioned by someone other than the station and which becomes the property of that person;
  • (c) the recovery of any amount paid to obtain the exclusive national or provincial broadcast rights to a sporting event, if the station can establish that the station was also paid normal fees for station time and facilities; and
  • (d) amounts received by an originating station acting on behalf of a group of stations, which do not constitute a permanent network and which broadcast a single event, simultaneously or on a delayed basis, that the originating station subsequently pays out to the other stations participating in the broadcast. These amounts paid to each participating station are part of that station’s “gross income”; (« revenus bruts Â»)
“low-use station (works)”
means a station that
  • (a) broadcasts works in the repertoire of SOCAN for less than 20% of its total broadcast time (excluding production music) during the reference month; and
  • (b) keeps and makes available to SOCAN complete recordings of its last 90 broadcast days; (« station utilisant peu d’œuvres Â»)
“month”
means a calendar month; (« mois »)
“production music”
means music used in interstitial programming such as commercials, public service announcements and jingles; (« musique de production »)
“reference month”
means the second month before the month for which royalties are being paid; (« mois de référence »)
“service provider”
means a professional service provider that may be retained by SOCAN to assist in the conduct of an audit or in the distribution of royalties to rights holders; (« prestataire de services »)
“year”
means a calendar year. (« année »)

Application

3. (1) This tariff sets the royalties to be paid each month by commercial radio stations in connection with the over-the-air broadcasting operations of a station to communicate to the public by telecommunication in Canada musical or dramatico-musical works in the repertoire of SOCAN.

(2) This tariff also entitles a station to authorize a person to communicate to the public by telecommunication a musical work for the purpose of delivering it to the station, so that the station can use it as permitted in subsection (1).

(3) This tariff does not apply to uses of music covered by

Royalties

4. A low-use station shall pay monthly to SOCAN 1.5% on its annual gross income for the reference month.

5. Except, as provided in section 4, a station shall pay monthly to SOCAN for the reference month: 3.2% on the first $1.25 million gross income in a year, and 4.4% on the rest.

6. All royalties payable under this tariff are exclusive of any federal, provincial or other governmental taxes or levies of any kind.

Administrative Provisions

7. (1) No later than the first day of each month, a station shall

8. At any time during the period set out in subsection 10(2), SOCAN may require the production of any contract granting rights referred to in paragraph (c) of the definition of “gross income”, together with the billing or correspondence relating to the use of these rights by other parties.

Information on Repertoire Use

9. (1) Each entry provided under paragraph 7(1)(c) shall include the following information, where available:

(2) The information set out in subsection (1) shall be provided in electronic format (Excel format or any other format agreed upon by SOCAN and the station) where possible, with a separate field for each piece of information required in subsection (1) other than the cue sheets that are to be used to insert the relevant music use information into each field of the report.

(3) For certainty, the use of the expression “where available” in subsection (1) means that all the listed information in the station’s possession or control, regardless of the form or the way in which it was obtained, must mandatorily be provided to SOCAN.

Records and Audits

10. (1) A station shall keep and preserve, for a period of six months after the end of the month to which they relate, records from which the information set out in subsection 9(1) can be readily ascertained.

(2) A station shall keep and preserve, for a period of six years after the end of the year to which they relate, records from which the station’s gross income can be readily ascertained.

(3) SOCAN may audit the records referred to in subsections (1) and (2) at any time during the period set out therein, on reasonable notice and during normal business hours. SOCAN shall, upon receipt, supply a copy of the report of the audit to the station that was the object of the audit.

(4) If an audit discloses that royalties due have been understated in any month by more than 10%, the station shall pay the reasonable costs of the audit within 30 days of the demand for such payment.

Confidentiality

11. (1) Subject to subsections (2), (3) and (4), information received from a station pursuant to this tariff shall be treated in confidence, unless the station that supplied the information consents in writing and in advance to each proposed disclosure of the information.

(2) SOCAN may share information referred to in subsection (1)

(3) Where confidential information is shared with service providers as per paragraph (2)(a), those service providers shall sign a confidentiality agreement that shall be shared with the affected station prior to the release of the information.

(4) Subsection (1) does not apply to information that is publicly available, or to information obtained from someone other than the station that supplied the information and who is not under an apparent duty of confidentiality to that station with respect to the supplied information.

Adjustments

12. Adjustments in the amount of royalties owed (including excess payments), as a result of the discovery of an error or otherwise, shall be made on the date the next royalty payment is due.

Interest on Late Payments

13. Any amount not received by the due date shall bear interest from that date until the date the amount is received. Interest shall be calculated daily, at a rate equal to 1% above the Bank Rate effective on the last day of the previous month (as published by the Bank of Canada). Interest shall not compound.

Addresses for Notices, etc.

14. (1) Anything addressed to SOCAN shall be sent by mail to 41 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, Ontario M3B 2S6, by email at licence@socan.ca or by fax at 416‑445‑7108, or to any other address, email address or fax number of which a station has been notified in writing.

(2) Anything addressed to a station shall be sent to the last address, email address or fax number of which SOCAN has been notified in writing.

Delivery of Notices and Payments

15. (1) A notice may be delivered by file transfer protocol (FTP), by hand, by postage-paid mail, by email or by fax. A payment must be delivered by hand, by postage-paid mail, or by electronic bank transfer (EBT), provided that the associated reporting is provided concurrently to SOCAN by email.

(2) Information set out in sections 7 and 9 shall be sent by email.

(3) Anything mailed in Canada shall be presumed to have been received four business days after the day it was mailed.

(4) Anything sent by fax, email, FTP or EBT shall be presumed to have been received the day it was transmitted.