SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste makes surprise exit

By Emmanuel Legrand

The board of directors of SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors & Music Publishers of Canada) has announced on April 14 the surprise resignation of Eric Baptiste after 10 years as chief executive officer of the rights society.

  Following the decision, effective immediately, SOCAN Senior Vice President Operation & Reproduction Rights Jennifer Brown was appointed to the role of Interim CEO. SOCAN said she will be in the role "during the formal process of identifying a permanent CEO."

  Brown has been with SOCAN for over two decades and on the society's executive team for nearly 10 years. She was previously Vice President of the company’s Licensing department.

Time to move on

  The performing rights organisation said in a statement that the decision to let Baptiste go was "purely coincidental to the current Covid-19 crisis, and the Board of Directors has full faith in SOCAN’s executive management team. The organisation continues to operate at full capacity."

  The company did not elaborate on the reasons for Baptiste's departure except to say: "With the end of the current CEO contract approaching, Eric thought it was time to move on and a mutual decision was reached with the Board to end his tenure now."

  A source with knowledge of the situation told this writer that the board and Baptiste "have simply been out of sync on the strategy and how to resolve certain issues for some time, so it was necessary to make a decision."

Position for the digital age

  Baptiste, who declined to comment for this story, joined SOCAN in May 2010, relocating to Toronto from Paris, where he had been Director General of CISAC (the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) from 1998 to 2010. As CEO of SOCAN Baptiste was an influential member of the board of CISAC, which he chaired between 2014 and 2019. 

  During his tenure at SOCAN, Baptiste positioned the company for the digital age, particularly with the 2016 acquisition of Medianet Digital, a rights and data management services company, and Audiam, a digital rights management company. It was also under his leadership that SOCAN acquired in 2018 SODRAC, a mechanical rights management company from Quebec.

  In February 2020, SOCAN announced record collections of C $ 405.5 million (€264 million) for 2019, up 8% from 2018. Most of this growth was linked to the increase in digital collections.

  “We thank Eric Baptiste for his leadership over the past 10 years,” said Marc Ouellette, President & Chair of SOCAN’s Board of Directors. “During this time, SOCAN has seen growth and has maintained its presence as a leader in serving music creators and publishers in Canada and around the world.”