Guest Lecture: Julia Train, Musicians Rights Organization of Canada (MROC)

On International Women’s Day, students in the Music Business class had a guest lecture and Q&A with copyright and royalties expert Julia Train, the current Senior Manager of Communications & Outreach for the Musicians Rights Organization of Canada (MROC).

MROC is a non-profit organization that collects and distributes royalties for performers. These royalties are payable under copyright legislation and reflect the rights of performers to be paid fairly for the broadcast and public performance of their works.

In addition to sharing her insights from her personal career journey, Julia reinforced students’ understanding of the three royalty streams available for artists and the ways in which these are collected and distributed across Canada. She brought a wealth of industry knowledge to her talk, developed through various entertainment industry roles. Prior to her current position, Julia sat on the Board of Directors for the Country Music Association of Ontario (CMAO), held the roles of Communications Manager and Submissions Coordinator for The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR), and worked as a DNA Royalties Administrator for the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA).

Julia’s lecture was thoughtfully tailored to the needs of Metalworks students as young artists and emerging music business professionals. She named and discussed not only MROC, but the other varied support organizations available to Canadian musicians and the services offered by each, including the Unison Benevolent Fund, the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), and Music Ontario; all under the umbrella category of ‘Organizations worth becoming a member of’. As Julia most eloquently stated, “We are a community, not an industry.”

More information about MROC and the essential work that they do can be found here.