SOCAN Promotes Cameron Kennedy to Chief Membership Officer Role

Cameron Kennedy is SOCAN’s new chief membership officer.

In 2022, Kennedy joined SOCAN’s creative services team, leading the collective on member retention and new music industry initiatives, while ensuring Canada’s songwriters, composers and music publishers feel supported throughout their careers.

Two years later, he launched SOCAN Academy, a new education program for SOCAN members, and led the revitalization of the SOCAN Awards. SOCAN partnered with the Polaris Music Prize on the new SOCAN Polaris Song Prize (won in its inaugural year by Mustafa for "Gaza Is Calling" and with Billboard Canada for the Non-Performing Songwriter Award and Screen Composers of the Year Award.

This past June, Kennedy, then vice president of creative and member relations, was honoured alongside SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown on Billboard Canada's 2025 Power Players list.

As CMO, Kennedy will guide the overall member-centric strategy and work closely with his leadership team. Alongside Alexandre Alonso, SOCAN’s dxecutive director of Québec affairs, Kennedy plans to deepen support for the organization’s francophone members and stakeholders across the country.

“My priority is to ensure our membership team remains responsive to the unique needs of all our members,” says Kennedy. “I look forward to working closely with our talented Membership team across Canada and our partners to uphold a vision of member engagement that celebrates and uplifts our diverse and vibrant music creator community.”

He succeeds Jean-Christian Céré, who departs the company after a 15-year career in the music industry. Before becoming SOCAN’s CMO in 2021, he served as general manager of the SPACQ (Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec).

“I feel deeply privileged to have represented the creators and music publishers who define and shape our cultural identity,” Céré said. “My greatest pride remains the team we built – talented, passionate, and deeply dedicated. It’s been a true privilege to work alongside such creative and committed people.”

In Kennedy's appointment announcement, Brown expresses gratitude for Céré’s time with the organization: “I want to thank Jean-Christian for his dedication and leadership at SOCAN. Over the past five years he has built a strong leadership team, fostered operational excellence across the organization, and overseen significant advancements in member services."

Brown shared that one of Céré's major achievements was setting up the Québec Affairs team, which plays "an important role in representing the needs of our francophone members within the music community."