SOCAN once again participated in a handful of events and activities at the 2008 edition of the North by Northeast (NXNE) music and film festival and conference, which took place June 12-15 in Toronto.

For the first time at any event, SOCAN maintained a mobile office at the host hotel, The Holiday Inn on King. Local members and conference delegates were able to drop by the office, and SOCAN staff had the opportunity to sign up and/or educate them, especially those members with strong touring careers, who can submit live music performance information via the SOCAN website.

Throughout SOCAN’s presence at the NXNE one-day trade show, Music Expo, we were able to take advantage of high traffic to educate conference delegates about who we are and what we do.

SOCAN also presented a panel on June 14, entitled “Bring Tha Noise: Hip-Hop Meets Punk – Building a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Tour Plan.” Hosted by SOCAN Education and Outreach Manager Dan Kershaw, the panel examined touring from a grass-roots perspective. Panelists and audience members alike found the information exchange extremely valuable. The panelists agreed that it would be a good idea to package DIY punk bands with underground hip-hop acts because sub-cultural audiences of both genres would appreciate each other’s decidedly non-mainstream music.

As always, SOCAN also sponsored the pocket-sized NXNE Gig Guide – an indispensable tool for navigating one’s way through all of the performances in the festival portion of the event.