May News

• We hope you've been enjoying our Weekly Webinar series. Over the past month, we've discussed everything from Covid-19 resources to music in the exercise industry, and we've also hosted a virtual songwriter round! Looking forward, we have another full slate of webinars coming up in May, including a joint event on cover song syncs with the Guild of Music Supervisors and an update on the MLC and Music Modernization Act.
• View Webcasts of Panels – One of the many benefits of membership is our archive of past panels and webinars, and now could be a great time to catch up, as they go back to 2006!  Members can view all archives, here. All are welcome to view a sampling of video clips here.  
• The Mechanical Licensing Collective has chosen Nashville as the home base for the organization, with plans to add up to 100 full-time employees, with the majority of those to be based in Nashville.  In January, it was announced the organization would be led by CEO Kris Ahrend.  Read more here.  
• Here's How The Music Community Can Get Free Coronavirus-Related Legal Services - Three non-profits are banding together to support the industry with issues around financial assistance, contract disputes, insurance coverage and more.  Read more here. 
• Insomniac Events, the Los Angeles-based mega-rave production company is taking its flagship event, Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas, to the Internet via a three-day livestream set to launch May 15-17, the weekend EDC was supposed to go down at the Las Vegas Motorspeedway before canceling due to the pandemic. The IRL festival, which draws more than 400,000 fans over three days, has been rescheduled for Oct. 2-4.  Read more here.  
• ASCAP - Grammy-winning jazz and pop legend Peggy Lee is honored with the creation of a new ASCAP Foundation Songwriting Award.  Read more here.  
• BMI’s popular social media video series Emoji That Track® has been nominated for Best Social Video in Arts & Entertainment at the 24th Annual Webby Awards. Winners will be announced and honored at an online ceremony on Tuesday, May 19. As a nominee, BMI’s Emoji That Track is also eligible to win a Webby People’s Voice Award. From now until May 7, fans from around the globe can help BMI win the internet’s top honor by voting here.  
• SESAC - 10 questions with Roseanne Cash, Trooko and Danny Lux on coping with quarantine.  
• Follow Us - And don't forget to follow the AIMP on Twitter, like us on Facebook and join us on LinkedIn.

Rell Lafargue / Reservoir Media Management

Rell Lafargue is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Reservoir Media Management, an independent music company based in New York City and with offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, Toronto and London. Founded as a family-owned music publisher in 2007, the company has grown to represent over 110,000 copyrights and 26,000 master recordings with titles dating as far back as the 1920s, and hundreds of #1 releases worldwide. Reservoir holds a regular Top 10 U.S. Market Share according to Billboard’s Publishers Quarterly and was named Publisher of the Year by Music Business Worldwide’s The A&R Awards.

When Lafargue joined Reservoir at its inception, the company represented four songwriters and 2,000 songs. Lafargue established Reservoir’s infrastructure, implemented its administration systems, and built the international network that oversees the company’s copyrights to this day. Under his leadership, Reservoir has grown to represent over 1000 songwriters and over 110,000 compositions.

Lafargue has overseen every deal the company has done in the last decade, including the acquisition of TVT Music Publishing in April 2010, the catalog he spent eight years building as their Vice President prior to joining Reservoir, where he worked with artists including Nine Inch Nails, Lil Jon, Snoop Dogg, Scott Storch, and Pitbull. He was instrumental in signing Nate “Danja” Hills, one of Reservoir’s first high-profile writer-producers, to the roster, and in the last year alone oversaw the signings of writers including Ali Tamposi, Migos’ Takeoff and Offset, Dave Bassett, Just Blaze, Jim Beanz, and Jamie Hartman, plus acquisitions of catalogs including Leon Ware, Willie Mitchell, Commodores’ Walter Orange and Thomas McClary, and the publishing catalogs associated with rock label Century Media, in addition to joint ventures with Warren “Oak” Felder and Big Life Management.

Its publishing catalog includes historic pieces written and performed by greats like Billy Strayhorn, Hoagy Carmichael, and John Denver; the contemporary-classic catalogs of Sheryl Crow and Phantogram; and current award-winning hits performed by the likes of Lady Gaga, Camila Cabello, Bruno Mars, Cardi B and more. The company’s roster of active writers and producers includes the award-winning James Fauntleroy, Ali Tamposi, and Jamie Hartman, plus popular performing artists 2 Chainz, Young Thug, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and Migos'? Offset and Takeoff.  

Reservoir's collection of film music includes rights to scores created by award-winning composer-producer Hans Zimmer, as heard in the motion pictures The Lion King, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Gladiator, The Dark Knight Trilogy, and over 150 other titles.

The company also represents a multitude of recorded music through Chrysalis Records and Philly Groove Records and manages artists through its venture with Big Life Management.