Festival d’été de Québec sued for copyright infringement

Festival-goers attend the Festival d'été de Québec on Friday, July 12, 2019, in Quebec City. (AP Photo provided by Amy Harris/Invision/AP/The Canadian Press)

The Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ), which is coming to an end, is being sued by the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) for copyright infringement and failure to pay royalties for approximately three years, according to a report by the National Post.

The lawsuit filed in Federal Court alleges that the festival organizers “have not paid royalties or submitted reporting forms to SOCAN since July 2022,” the newspaper reported on Friday.

The Festival international d’été de Québec Inc. and the BLEUFEU agency, which is behind the FEQ, are named as defendants in the case.

SOCAN is responsible for licensing and collecting royalties on licensed music in Canada. It represents more than 200,000 Canadian authors, composers, and publishers, as well as millions of rights holders through a network of more than 100 collecting societies in over 200 countries.

Among the 11 groups and artists named in the lawsuit are Les Trois Accords, Karkwa, Alexandra Streliski, and Montreal rock band Half Moon Run.

“SOCAN will seek redress for all of these activities,” according to court documents obtained by The National Post.

In the lawsuit, SOCAN alleges that “the organizers relied on their tax status as charities to exempt themselves from paying royalties to music creators and their publishers when their music is played at the festival venue,” the newspaper reports.

“Failure to pay royalties to music creators and their publishers undermines the foundations of the music industry and deprives them of the income they are legitimately entitled to for their work,” SOCAN said in a written statement on its website.

FEQ responds to allegations

The FEQ organizers said in a statement released Saturday afternoon that other comparable organizations share its interpretation of the law. They also assure that “fair remuneration, in accordance with the highest industry standards” is one of the festival’s core values.

The organizers questioned SOCAN’s motives for “filing legal proceedings in the middle of the festival, despite discussions that had been ongoing until very recently.”

Finally, the FEQ added that “proceeding in English, in the context of a Quebec cultural event, seems inappropriate and disconnected from the reality of the community.”

The Festival d’été de Québec will conclude on Sunday after 10 days of programming. Singer Farruko, one of the most influential figures in Latin music and reggaeton, originally from Puerto Rico, will close the festivities on the Plains of Abraham on Sunday evening, starting at 9:30 p.m.

On Saturday evening, pop and country music star Shania Twain will entertain the crowd.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on July 12, 2025.