Left to right: Liz Rodrigues, Houtan Hodania
SOCAN presented a “Cookin’ Beats” panel with three-time JUNO Award winner and Platinum-selling music producer YogiTheProducer at the SOCAN-sponsored 2024 edition of IMSTA FESTA, a free, one-day music tech conference, presented by the International Music Software Trade Association (IMSTA), and held in the Rogers Communications building at Toronto Metropolitan University on Nov. 23, 2023.
YogiTheProducer has produced, co-produced, or created beats for Drake, Nicki Minaj, Camila Cabello, Chris Brown, GIVEON, Alessia Cara, Jessie Reyez, and Savannah Ré, among others. Young beat-makers, producers, artists, and industry personnel packed the room for the panel, moderated by SOCAN Creative Executive, Black Music, Lord Quest. It was an in-depth look into the music production world, as Yogi described his production process, divulged the tools he uses, and shared tips for crafting hits.
SOCAN also sponsored the first-ever songwriting masterclass at IMSTA-FESTA, Where SOCAN Creative Executive, East Coast, Houtan Hodania, moderated a discussion with Grammy Award-Winning songwriter Liz Rodrigues. She’s co-written six songs on Celine Dion’s last studio album, Courage; multiple songs for Eminem; and songs for Pitbull, Nicole Scherzinger, and Dan Hill, among many others. Rodrigues discussed what inspires her, how to craft memorable melodies, song structure, lyric writing, co-writing, and much more.