How to read your SOCAN royalty statement
By Marc Aaron Jacobs · Updated
The most important thing about a SOCAN statement is not in it: SOCAN pays in Canadian dollars, and none of the export's 62 columns says so. Read the totals as US dollars and every figure is roughly 40% too high, foreign income included.
For each line, WorkTitle is the work, ProductTitle the show, MediaSource the channel or service, ExploitationTerritory where it was earned, and NetAmount what you were paid. GrossAmount is usually empty.
Where to download it
Sign in to the SOCAN member portal, select the statements you want, and save them as CSV.
The columns, one by one
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| WorkTitle | The work. |
| WorkISWC, WorkNumber | The work codes. ISWC is filled in more often than WorkNumber. |
| ProductTitle | The show or product. |
| MediaSource | The channel or service. |
| DistributionCategory | What kind of use the line pays, as a numbered category. |
| UsageCount | A count, but its meaning depends on the category. On streaming lines it can be six figures. |
| ExploitationTerritory | Where it was earned. |
| RemittingSociety | The foreign society that sent the money, on foreign lines. |
| PerformanceStartDate | When it was performed. 1900-01-01 means not supplied. |
| DistributionPeriod | When SOCAN paid, as year and month: 20267 is July 2026. |
| NetAmount | What the line paid you, in Canadian dollars. |
The headers have no spaces in them. That is how SOCAN writes them.
Dates that are not dates
A PerformanceStartDate of 1900-01-01 is a spreadsheet's zero date, which here means SOCAN did not supply one. It is not a performance from 1900. And DistributionPeriod is the payout, not the airing.
Read it in one minute
Drop the file into the free statement reader and it is recognized as SOCAN automatically. It runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded, and no account is needed. Tell it you are paid in Canadian dollars and every converted figure is marked approximate.
Common questions
What currency is a SOCAN statement in?
Canadian dollars. The export has no currency column, so read as US dollars every figure comes out roughly 40% too high.
Why does my SOCAN statement show a date of 1900-01-01?
It is a spreadsheet's zero date and means the performance date was not supplied. It is not a real performance date.
What is DistributionPeriod on a SOCAN statement?
When SOCAN paid, written as year and month. 20267 is July 2026.
Related
- How to read your PRS for Music royalty statement: Tunecode, Number of Perfs, and the date that is not when it aired.
- How to read your BMI royalty statement: what each column means, and why titles stop at 30 characters.
- How to read a royalty statement: what the blank channel column means, and why one line is not one payment.
Who makes this
ONTRK is built by Marc Aaron Jacobs, a composer who runs the libraries Tonal Chaos and Tonal Chaos Trailers, and who built DropCue. ONTRK started as the thing he wrote to read his own ASCAP statements. Questions go to hello@ontrk.app and reach him directly.
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