I attended the 2014 ASCAP Expo in Los Angeles, CA this year from April 23 – 26. Thanks to a professional development grant from the Illinois Arts Council, I had an unparallelled opportunity to participate and learn in a creative environment shared by aspiring and established songwriters and a wide range of other music professionals. Organized by the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers, it is billed as “The Premier Conference for Songwriters, Composers and Producers.” It lived up to the billing. It was an incredible gathering of approximately 800 attendees, 230 panelists from every facet of the music business, and 56 sponsors and exhibits of music software, hardware, and educational programs. All housed at the Lowe’s Hollywood Hotel. There were networking events, interactive workshops, keynote speeches and conversations among music industry legends, master seminars, creative panels, concerts, one-on-one sessions, and lunch roundtables. The choices were overwhelming and it was hard to decide what to take in. Fortunately, all of the over 40 panels were recorded and the over 60 hours of content have been made available for viewing until the end of 2014. It’s going to take me that long to get through everything! I met some very interesting songwriters and heard some informative speakers as I attended various panels and workshops on topics such as music publishing and film music. On the final day, I had the opportunity to connect in a one-on-one session with Beth Amy Rosenblatt, a film music supervisor and producer with an impressive resume. You can check out the event here:

The ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO

This program was partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Here are some photos from the event: