My core job is to foster a healthy membership. In your role as Senior Director for Film/TV Membership, what are your core duties? What are the most exciting facets of your arena of responsibility? We also have an exceptional film scoring program that we offer in collaboration with Columbia University, and count Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated Nicholas Britell ( Moonlight) among that program’s alumni.
Now in its 30th year, that event has a track record of launching promising composers into professional careers in the film/ TV industries, including Didier Rachou, Matthew Margeson, Layla Minoui, Joseph Trapanese, and Julia Newmann. For composers, our Film Scoring Workshop in Los Angeles takes place every July. Finally, ASCAP provides some incredibly valuable educational opportunities for our members, including workshops, networking events and our annual ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO, coming up May 7-9. Member Access is also where they can get exclusive Member Benefits that include instrument and health insurance and discounts on services that can help cut costs for working musicians. ASCAP provides a host of other benefits that help members pursue professional music careers: they can view their quarterly royalty statements 24/7 through ASCAP Member Access - a simple, secure online portal with detailed, granular information on exactly when / where their music was played and how much it earned, along with access to their processed cue sheets. Because we operate on a non-profit basis, 88 cents of every dollar of revenue ASCAP collects goes back to our members, minus a small percentage for our operating expenses – currently about 12%, one of the lowest in the performing rights world. Unlike any other performing rights organization, ASCAP is a membership association and we are owned and governed by our members - our board of directors is made up of 12 writers/ composers and 12 publishers. It was an unexpected path, but now 14 years in, I've found a job that I enjoy and a composer community that I love supporting each day.įor someone in the Film/Television Music category, what are the unique advantages of being a member of ASCAP? And now as Senior Director, my outreach extends internationally to the Krakow Film Music Festival, Soundtrack Cologne in Germany and the World Soundtrack Awards in Belgium. I became the co-producer of that same ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop, and have held that title for 10 years. I've gone on to develop other educational programs in collaboration with Film Independent and other organizations. With my work on the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop, I found the educational satisfaction that I craved. After 4-5 years balancing work in both departments, I became a full-time Film & TV department staff member.
As I worked through those issues, I found my analytical brain was satisfied as I researched performance royalty processing. Then I started taking calls from members, including film composers working on indie films with new production companies that didn't know anything about cue sheets. As the Executive Assistant to both the Senior VP of Rhythm & Soul Membership, and a Director in Film & TV Membership, I was immediately thrown into preparations for the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards and the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop with Richard Bellis, and discovered that I had previously untapped event planning talents. With that, I embarked on a temp job with ASCAP. They said "we don't have publishing, but we have music publishing." My honest reply was "what's that?". I remembered that I had been published before so I asked if there were any jobs in publishing. I approached a temp agency and we talked through my skill sets. I decided to take a step back and consider what was important to me. The answer was that I liked educating people, I enjoyed having a social aspect to my day-to-day and never forgetting that I'm a science geek at heart, I needed something that made my analytical brain work. While I found the topics very interesting, I was increasingly unsatisfied with the lifestyle. In my life before ASCAP, I worked in academic research in psychology and neuroscience. The short answer is that it was pure luck. Can you tell us about your background in the music industry? How did you come to work for ASCAP?