In addition to sponsoring the songwriter of the year award SOCAN hosted a reception, presented a workshop and offered two songwriters’ circles at the 2008 East Coast Music Awards, Festival and Conference (ECMAs), held Feb. 7-10 in Fredericton, N.B.

The two SOCAN Songwriters' Circles – among the most popular events in the festival – were held at The Playhouse, on the afternoons of Feb. 9 and 10. Participants in the first circle were Steven Page, David Myles (host), Jean-François Breau, Thom Swift and Damhnait Doyle. Participants in the second were Martha Wainwright, Lennie Gallant (host), Christian “Kit” Goguen, Jenn Grant and Roger Howse. CBC Radio 2 taped both events for later broadcast.

In the first circle, Steven Page said it was nice to be back on the East Coast. “Scarborough is the East Coast of Toronto,” said Page. David Myles introduced his song “Take Your Bow,” saying that it was a song about a friend suffering from depression, while Damnhait Doyle joked that all her songs are about that. The entire audience sang along with Myles on his song “When It Comes My Turn,” while Page also inspired a singalong (this one of “la la la”s) to a brand new, as yet unnamed song.

In the second circle, Lennie Gallant said that he knew he had “made it” once his name was a clue in a crossword puzzle in the National Post – but it took his mother 15 minutes to solve it. After Martha Wainwright played a new, Middle Eastern-tinged song, Gallant said ‘I’m so hungry for Lebanese food now,” and Wainwright playfully shot back, “You’re just hung over.”

Earlier in the week, SOCAN’s Dan Kershaw moderated an afternoon workshop offering an international case study of Japan as a target music market, on Feb. 7 at the Crowne Plaza hotel. Attendees learned that Japan is the second-largest music market in the world after the US; that large-scale festival promoters in Japan tend to look for a Japanese label release before booking a foreign act; and that international acts may be advised to re-brand themselves to cater to the Japanese market.