July News

• This summer, the AIMP is partnering with some very special guests for our weekly Summer Educational Webinar Series, which will be FREE for both AIMP members and non-members! Our LA Chapter will get things started with the first of two webinars presented by "DDEX: "DDEX Standards Explained." 
• View Webcasts of Panels – One of the many benefits of membership is our archive of past panels and webinars.  If you missed the NY June presentations, "Mechanicals in the 21st Century: Overcoming Metadata and Distribution Challenges" and "Interview With Steve Miller", and the LA Chapter's "Music Licensing In The Digital Age" with the Brabecs, Members can view the videos, as well as all archives, here.  All are welcome to view a sampling of video clips here.  
• Ennio Morricone, the Oscar winner whose haunting, inventive scores expertly accentuated the simmering, dialogue-free tension of the spaghetti Westerns directed by Sergio Leone, has died. He was 91.  A native and lifelong resident of Rome whose first instrument was the trumpet, Morricone won his Oscar for his work on Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight (2015).  Read more here.  
• And Johnny Mandel, the famed Hollywood composer behind the theme song for classic sitcom M*A*S*H, has died at the age of 94.  In a statement emailed to Billboard, ASCAP president and songwriter Paul Williams also weighed in on the loss of Mandel: "Giant. Genius. Gentleman. There are many ways to describe the legendary composer Johnny Mandel. His incredible music spanned decades, mediums, oceans and firmly established him in the American Songbook canon."  Read more here.  
• Indie publisher The Royalty Network has launched Black Empowerment Thru Music, a new program designed to connect emerging black musicians, producers, songwriters and entrepreneurs with music industry leaders.  As part of the initiative, the company is now inviting professional and established musicians, artists, attorneys, songwriters and others to get involved in the effort in a multitude of ways – whether by providing free studio time, financially supporting designated organizations, donating instruments to schools, matching grants or mentoring, among other activities.
• This year, the ASCAP Screen Music Awards took to the screen itself to honor 2020’s winning music creators. The ASCAP composers who brought everyone’s favorite onscreen entertainment to life in the past year by sweeping audiences away to other worlds, times and places, were celebrated virtually.  Winning composers gave personal acceptance speeches from their home studios, some with creatively staged video segments, and celebrity friends chimed in with special congratulatory messages. A complete list of winners can be found on the ASCAP website and you can read more here.
• BMI songwriters made a strong showing at the 2020 BET Awards, with several affiliates claiming major awards for their tremendous contributions over the last year. While BET made the celebration virtual in light of the pandemic, this year’s event — celebrating not only twenty years of the awards, but also 40 years of the BET network itself — showcased a robust selection of remarkable talent, highlighted by several notable video performances by BMI writers like Anderson .Paak, Chloe x Halle, John Legend, Jonathan McReynolds, Kane Brown, Megan Thee Stallion, Nas, Roddy Ricch and an incendiary show-opener by veteran hip hop legends Public Enemy.
• SESAC - "Music is a common denominator. That same principle holds true today as we pledge to our colleagues, songwriters, composers, and the community at large to continue as an organization committed to inclusiveness and equality.  SESAC stands in unity with the Black community and is dedicated to doing its part to help end systemic racism, hatred and injustice in America. Meaningful and continuous change comes through engagement and action."  Read more here.  
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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.