January 7, 2003

PRESS RELEASE CONTACT:
Pauline Stack 212-621-6278 pstack@ascap.com

Nancy Knutsen, ASCAP Senior Vice President of Film & Television Music, has announced the promotion of Mike Todd to Director of Film & Television Music within the Membership Group. Todd previously served as Associate Director, and will continue to be based in the Society’s Los Angeles office.

Todd joined ASCAP’s Los Angeles staff in 1999. Prior to that, he spent four years at the Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency, a prominent film and television composer agency that represents a large number of Hollywood’s most illustrious and sought after composers. .

As a member of ASCAP’s Film & TV team, Todd is responsible for establishing and maintaining membership relationships, as well as supporting and sharing with the composer community his knowledge about the film and television music industry. Having earned a Bachelors Degree in Studio Music & Jazz Performance from the University of Miami, Todd lends a musician’s perspective to his position, which has enabled him to understand and effectively serve the needs of ASCAP’s composers and songwriters. He is actively involved in promoting ASCAP’s profile within the industry by participating in events, conferences, seminars, festivals, and helping develop marketing strategies, with the mission of raising awareness about ASCAP’s policies and practices. He also serves the creative community by producing and speaking on panels throughout the U.S., along with creating in-depth educational articles for ASCAP’s Playback magazine.

For the past two years, he has also produced ASCAP’s annual Film Scoring Workshop, which is supported by high-profile guest professionals in the industry, and consists of an intense month-long curriculum, making it one of the key activities of ASCAP’s Film & Television Music Department each year. Participants in this highly competitive program have been selected from talented young composers from throughout the world.

For the past two years, he has also produced ASCAP’s annual Film Scoring Workshop, which is supported by high-profile guest professionals in the industry, and consists of an intense month-long curriculum, making it one of the key activities of ASCAP’s Film & Television Music Department each year. Participants in this highly competitive program have been selected from talented young composers from throughout the world.

ASCAP has the largest and most experienced membership staff serving the creative community, and its commitment to the nurturing and development of new talent in all genres of music is unprecedented. ASCAP offers programs including showcases, workshops and seminars, and provides support such as scholarships, commissions and cash awards to its writer and publisher members who qualify.

ASCAP is a membership association of over 145,000 composers, songwriters and music publishers of all genres of music. ASCAP protects the rights of its members by licensing and collecting royalties for the public performance of their copyrighted works. ASCAP is the only performing rights organization whose Board of Directors is made up solely of writers and publishers elected by the membership.