Well, Peace, I'll tell you a little story ..... A few years ago, my brother was invited to a Bat Mitzvah at which one of his music students would be performing one of my brother's pieces, which had been published in a collection for students. When my brother arrived at the event, the parents and kid were in a fluster because a rep from SOCAN had shown up and announced that the kid couldn't perform the piece without paying SOCAN $59(!) on the spot. My brother told the guy that he was the composer, and he gave his permission for the performance. Didn't make no never-mind - the money had to be paid. So my brother resolved the matter, as he thought, by telling the parents that if they paid, he would reimburse them when he, as the composer in question, received his payment from SOCAN. Now, if you've stopped laughing, you can take a guess as to how much of that $59 my brother ever saw ....

Was the heavy guy really from SOCAN? I don't know - but if not, he had cottoned on to the idea that he could plausibly use the existence of SOCAN as a way to shake down musicians (and their families).