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ASCAP Composer Paul Moravec Wins 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music

ASCAP composer Paul Moravec has been awarded the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music for Tempest Fantasy, a chamber piece for clarinet and piano trio, which was premiered on May 2, 2003 at Manhattan's Morgan Library by Trio Solisti and clarinetist David Krakauer. Tempest Fantasy is published by Subito Music Publishing Inc.

The Pulitzer Prize in Music is awarded "For distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year." Paul is a member of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards Panel, and is a member of ASCAP's Special Classifications Committee. For more info, visit Paul's website at http://paulmoravec.com/.

ASCAP Members Reign on Rock’s Biggest Night

Prince, Jackson Browne, George Harrison and ZZ Top Among Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of ‘04

New York City’s Waldorf Astoria was taken over once again this year with ASCAP members as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its class of 2004. This year’s group of inductees was an all-ASCAP class: Prince, Traffic, Jackson Browne, ZZ Top, The Dells, George Harrison and Bob Seger were all inducted along with Lifetime Achievement Award winner Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner

As always, the highlights of the evening were the performances. Dressed in a white suit, Prince brought the crowd to its feet when played three of his hits: "Let’s Go Crazy," "Sign O’ The Times" and "Kiss." He was inducted by fellow ASCAP members OutKast and Alicia Keys. Bob Seger, the Detroit rock hero, was inducted by Kid Rock, and then performed "Turn the Page" and "Old Time Rock & Roll," with his longtime Silver Bullet band. George Harrison was inducted posthumously by Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty, his fellow Traveling Wilburys bandmates. They then were joined by Harrison’s son Dhani on two Harrrison songs, "Handle Me With Care" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Steve Winwood took the stage with his rock combo Traffic and played a jam-laden version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy." Traffic was inducted by Dave Matthews. California folk/rocker Jackson Browne was inducted by Bruce Springsteen and then went on to perform "The Pretender" and "Running on Empty." The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards inducted ZZ Top and then they went on to perform "La Grange" and "Tush." The Dells performed their 1956 classic "Oh, What a Night," backed by the Paul Shaffer-led house band. Rolling Stone’s Wenner was inducted by Mick Jagger.

ASCAP Joins FastTrack

ASCAP officially joined FastTrack, the Digital Copyright Network, at a special signing session in Geneva, Switzerland in March. In attendance were members of FastTrack’s Supervisory Board, which is comprised of leaders from some of the world’s leading performing rights organizations. ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento also joined the Supervisory Board at the spring meeting. FastTrack is an alliance of performing rights societies whose goal is to build a decentralized network to share data and streamline internal operations. One way it is doing this is to adopt the "best practices” already existing among its member societies.

LoFrumento commented: "ASCAP sees this online linkage of our domestic database with those of our foreign affiliates as yet another step in developing a fully integrated, worldwide performing rights environment."

FastTrack’s Managing Director Chris van Houten said "ASCAP’s membership will mean that more than two-thirds of all musical works performed internationally are represented in the FastTrack database, greatly enhancing the efficiency of our members’ royalty accounting systems."

Pictured at the FastTrack meeting in Geneva are Teddy Bautista (SGAE), Manfred Brunner (AKM), Chris van Houten (FastTrack), Alfred Meyer (SUISA), Jurgen Becker (GEMA), Jacques Lion (SABAM), Frances Preston (BMI), Cees Vervoord (Buma/Stemra), LoFrumento, John Hutchinson (MCPS-PRS), Franco Migliacci (SIAE), Andre LeBel (SOCAN) and Bernard Miyet (SACEM).

Forward Thinkers Pictured (l-r) at the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit are ASCAP's Harry Poloner, Lauren Iossa and Chris Amenita, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Pat Irwin, Suzanne Vega, ASCAP Board member Dean Kay and ASCAP's Loretta Muñoz. Photo by Quentin Lide

ASCAP at The Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit

For a third year, ASCAP was a lead sponsor of the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit held May 2-3, 2004 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. During the summit, experts and audience members including policymakers, songwriters and musicians, industry representatives, and technologists discussed the effects that new technologies are having on music creators and the music industry.

ASCAP Senior Vice President, ASCAP Enterprises Group, Chris Amenita, and ASCAP members Pat Irwin (member of the B-52's and a film/television composer), Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth (members of the Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club) and singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega took part in panels debating issues such as the value of treating your band as a business, alternative compensation systems with respect to P2P networks, what is lost and gained in the "mash-up" phenomenon, and what the future holds in store for music creators, consumers, and the music industry.

ASCAP Board member Dean Kay hosted an ASCAP cocktail reception on the first night of the conference for all conference attendees, which included a special screening of a commemorative video tracing the birth of ASCAP through to the new millennium in celebration of ASCAP's 90th birthday. For more information about the summit, visit the Future of Music's website at www.futureofmusic.org/index.cfm.