Paul Shaver Named New CMRRA President

By FYI Staff

The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA), a SoundExchange company, has named Paul Shaver as its new President.

Shaver previously served as Vice President at Nielsen Entertainment Canada, where he was instrumental in the launch of the Music Connect analytics platform in Canada that provides improved data transparency to rights holders and other music industry stakeholders.  He also more than doubled the number of monitored radio stations so publishers and rights organizations would have 24/7 airplay monitoring.  

Shaver’s appointment reflects a focus on refining and expanding the services CMRRA provides the publishing community, the company said in a prepared statement.

“Paul’s unyielding passion for the business of music is the perfect fit for CMRRA as technology evolves and music is accessed in different ways” “said SoundExchange President & CEO, Michael Huppe. “We are thrilled that Paul has joined our team.”

“I’ve always been passionate about music and the artistic process behind its creation. With the rapid evolution of technology positively impacting consumers’ ability to engage with music, music consumption is undergoing significant global growth,” Shaver said.  “It’s vital that CMRRA continues to lead the charge to value music for the music publishing community, the songwriters, and the overall music ecosystem.” 

 “We extend a warm welcome to Paul,” said Veronica Syrtash, CMRRA Senior Vice-President - Business Affairs & Corporate Development. “It’s an exciting time for rights holders and our collective.”

Before joining Nielsen, he held leadership roles at HMV Canada, Virgin Music Canada and EMI, where he served as VP Marketing & Promotion.

Following Universal’s acquisition of EMI in 2012, he was also VP Marketing at Universal Music.

He then joined Open Road Recording & RGK Entertainment Group as GM/SVP.

His career experience also extends to developing successful artist promotion and strategic brand partnerships for artists including homegrown talents Anne Murray, Nickelback, Serena Ryder, Dean Brody and Johnny Reid and international artists Katy Perry, Coldplay, Lorde, Keith Urban and Imagine Dragons, among others. Shaver will be based at CMRRA headquarters in Toronto, Canada and begins on October 15, 2019. He can be reached at pshaver@cmrra.ca.

About CMRRA

The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA), a SoundExchange company, represents almost all of the music publishers doing business in Canada. CMRRA licenses dozens of digital services including all of the major online music services operating in Canada. It licenses, collects and distributes royalties for the majority of songs recorded, sold and broadcast in Canada. For more information, please visit cmrra.ca.

About SoundExchange

SoundExchange provides royalty solutions for sound recordings and publishing, serving as a critical backbone to today’s digital music industry. The organization collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of more than 192,000 recording artists’ and master rights owners’ accounts. SoundExchange provides leading services to the publishing community through subsidiaries SXWorks and the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA). Its technology solutions help turn massive amounts of data into accurate revenue for creators and include: Music Data Exchange (MDX), International Standard Recording Codes (ISRC) Search, the Notice of Intention to Use (NOI) LOOKUP, and the Unclaimed Works Portal (via CMRRA Direct). To date, SoundExchange has paid out more than $6 billion in royalties. For more information, visit www.SoundExchange.com.