Results of each Chapter’s Board of Directors elections will also be announced
November 22, 2022 (Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York) – The Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) has announced the schedule for their annual meetings and holiday events. Each chapter will hold its own event, with the Nashville Chapter’s on November 29, New York Chapter’s on December 1, Los Angeles Chapter’s on December 9, and Atlanta Chapter’s on January 17. The events will feature the announcement of each Chapter’s Board of Directors election results. In addition, the New York Chapter will honor Deborah Mannis-Gardner with the Indie Spirit Award, and the Los Angeles Chapter will honor North Music Group as Publisher of the Year and Jay Cooper as Person of the Year.
The first event in the series will be held on Tuesday, November 29 at 4pm CT, when the AIMP Nashville Chapter will host its Fall Party, sponsored by Royalty Wealth Group, at Never Never in Nashville. The event is open only to AIMP Nashville members, with RSVPs available by emailing aimpnashville@gmail.com.
“The past few years have been hard on everyone, and we could not be more excited to celebrate this year’s accomplishments in person,” said John Ozier, AIMP National Chair and President of the Nashville Chapter. “Our Fall Party is a chance to thank all our amazing members for their participation in our organization throughout the year and a chance to look forward to what’s to come in 2023.”
The AIMP New York Chapter will then hold their 2022 Holiday Party on Thursday, December 1 at 6pm ET, at OFFSITEnyc Event Space in midtown New York City. This is a limited-capacity event with tickets starting at $70 for AIMP Premier members, $90 for Professional members, and $110 for non-members, which includes a 2023 membership. Tickets are now available and can be purchased through November 28 at https://aimp-nyc.square.site.
At the event, the New York Chapter will present its Indie Spirit Award to Deborah Mannis-Gardner, the owner and president of DMG Clearances, Inc. Mannis-Gardner, also known as the “Queen of Sample Clearances,” is well-known for her work clearing samples for artists including Drake, Tyler the Creator, DJ Khaled, Eminem, Pop Smoke, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, Megan Thee Stallion, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and more. She has also handled music clearances for metaverse platforms such as Meta and Roblox; films by Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers, and Richard Linklater; TV series on networks such as HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and Paramount+; ad campaign clearances for Google, Ciroc, and Kmart; podcast music clearances for Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell’s “Broken Record”; video game clearances for Rockstar Games franchises “Grand Theft Auto” and “Red Dead Redemption,” and Turtle Rock Studios’ “Back 4 Blood”; Grand Rights clearance for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway sensation “Hamilton” and music clearances for its release on Disney+; and political campaign clearances for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign.
“We are excited to bring our Chapter together again for our 2022 Holiday Party and celebrate what we have accomplished together,” said Michael Lau, President of the AIMP New York Chapter. “It was a swift and unanimous decision by our Chapter to award Deborah Mannis-Gardner as the 2022 recipient of the Indie Spirit Award. She has done tremendous work for artists and the music community, especially supporting the independent music publishers over the years, with no signs of slowing down.”
On Friday, December 9 at 11:30am PT, the AIMP Los Angeles Chapter will host their Holiday Awards Luncheon and Annual Membership Meeting at Lawry’s in Beverly Hills, CA. Registration for the luncheon costs $60 for AIMP members and $75 for non-members. For more information or to register for the event, click here.
During the event, the Los Angeles Chapter will present its Publisher of the Year award to North Music Group (NMG). Based in Los Angeles, NMG is a full-service music rights management company that specializes in the administration of music compositions and sound recordings. Abby North is principal of NMG and a founder of Unchained Melody Publishing LLC. NMG represents over 100,000 musical works and sound recordings, including evergreen commercial and film/TV copyrights. It was created to work with families that control both composition and sound recording copyrights, providing them with a boutique, trusted rights management partner who can advise regarding estate issues, copyright and terminations, and ways to generate new revenue. While NMG’s catalog was born from these legacy copyrights, it has since expanded into current commercial works and sub-publishing of production music libraries.To facilitate its rights management, NMG has developed technology for CWR creation, royalty processing, and music IP/metadata tracking.
Additionally, the Los Angeles Chapter will present its Person of the Year award to Jay Cooper for his unwavering support for songwriters and publishers. Cooper is the Founder of the Los Angeles Entertainment Practice of Greenberg Traurig and focuses his practice on music industry, motion picture, television, Internet, multimedia, and intellectual property issues. He represents individuals and companies on intellectual property matters and contract negotiations, including recording and publishing agreements for individual artists and composers; actor, director, producer, and writer agreements in film and television; executive employment agreements; complex acquisitions and sales of entertainment catalogs; production agreements on behalf of music, television, and motion picture companies, and all entertainment issues relative to the Internet and digital services. He has been named to Billboard’s 2022 Top Music Lawyers list from 2017-2022, the Chamber USA Guide from 2004-2022, and participated in Varietys Legal Impact Report in 2013 and 2022. He has also been listed as one of The Best Lawyers in America, Entertainment Law – Music; Entertainment – Motion Pictures and Television from 1987-2023.
“We are incredibly thankful to our Chapter members for their support this past year, and our luncheon is our opportunity to let them know,” said Teri Nelson Carpenter, President of the AIMP Los Angeles Chapter. “Our annual awards allow us the opportunity to showcase the amazing companies and individuals who work tirelessly for our songwriting and publishing community. We look forward to honoring North Music Group as our Publisher of the Year and Jay Cooper as Person of the Year.”
The newly created Atlanta AIMP Chapter wrap up the festivities on Tuesday, January 17 at 7pm ET, when they will host their New Year Meeting Mixer at 4U Recording Atlanta and announce their first-ever Board of Directors. Further details will be made available soon.
“Over this year, we have worked tirelessly to develop and build the new AIMP Chapter in Atlanta,” said Tony D. Alexander, Chair of the AIMP Atlanta Steering Committee. “We are excited to bring our members together again for our New Year Meeting Mixer to announce our first-ever Board of Directors and celebrate what’s to come for our Chapter in 2023.”
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About the AIMP
The Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) was formed in 1977 and has local chapters in Los Angeles, New York, and Nashville. The organization’s primary focus is to educate and inform music publishers about the most current industry trends and practices by providing a forum for the discussion of the issues and problems confronting the music publishing industry. The opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions with others on issues of mutual concern is fostered by the atmosphere at the AIMP’smonthly meetings, forums, and workshops, the videos of which can be seen (along with more general info on the organization) at www.aimp.org.