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October - November - December 1998
Commenting on the awards, ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman said, "For nearly four decades, ASCAP's unique Special Awards program has provided deserving music creators with recognition and money. At an early stage of my career, I was a Special Awards recipient and I can personally attest to how much this honor can mean. We at ASCAP, of course, are greatly indebted to each of our hard-working panelists for giving their time and expertise to this important effort."
Special Awards are determined annually by distinguished members of the music community who serve on either the Standard or Popular Awards Panels. The panelists are neither members nor employees of ASCAP, and thus are completely independent in their determinations. The members of the Popular Awards Panel are: Peter Filichia, drama critic for the (Newark) Star-Ledger and President of the Drama Desk; Peter Keepnews, author and pop music and culture critic; Melinda Newman, Senior Talent Editor of Billboard; and Pat Prescott, veteran radio personality who currently co-hosts the "CD Morning Show" on WQCD (New York).
The members of the Standard Awards Panel are: Jo Ann Falletta, Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Long Beach Symphony and Virginia Symphony Orchestras; Carolyn Jennings, Professor of Music and Associate Dean for Fine Arts at St. Olaf College; Tim Page, author and classical music critic for the Washington Post; H. Robert Reynolds, Director of Bands and Instrumental Studies at the University of Michigan; and Fred Sherry, world-renowned cellist and member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
ASCAP members interested in applying for special awards in 1999 should watch for information about the program and an application in the next issue of Playback. For more information, contact Ken Cicerale, Coordinator of Awards, at (212) 621-6172.
The ASCAP EZ-SEEKER™Targeted Business Intelligence for the Music Licensing IndustryASCAP and Cyveillance (formerly Online Monitoring Services - OMS), the leader in intellectual property monitoring for the Internet recently announced a new partnership to offer a software technology called ASCAP EZ-Seeker that will revolutionize the licensing and tracking of music performances on the Internet.ASCAP EZ-Seeker leapfrogs all Internet licensing and tracking technologies currently in use by any American performing rights organization. In addition to identifying specific song titles of works performed on the Internet, ASCAP EZ-Seeker employs a proprietary set of Web crawlers to locate Internet sites using commonly available audio and video file formats. It then qualifies those prospects by making use of a series of intelligent agents, automatically issues license forms where appropriate, and finally tracks compliance with license requirements. ASCAP EZ-Seeker also has the ability to decode various watermarks that may be employed by record labels, music producers and distributors to identify their works. "ASCAP EZ-Seeker is a one-stop solution for taming the Wild West of music use on the Internet," said ASCAP's CEO John LoFrumento. "In one cutting-edge detection and follow-up technology, ASCAP and OMS have ensured that copyright owners receive their fair share for music performances online." "We are pleased to be working closely with ASCAP to crack the problem of finding, licensing and tracking music on the Internet," said Christopher Young, President and COO of Cyveillance of Alexandria, Virginia. "We anticipate a long-term strategic alliance where we offer each new generation of music providers and copyright owners copyright protection for the Internet." ASCAP and Cyveillance will be making the ASCAP EZ-Seeker application available to performing rights and mechanical rights societies around the world. The application will be customized to meet the individual needs of those organizations," said LoFrumento. "As music use on the Web continues to explode, we're doing everything in our power to make it easier for Web site operators to use ASCAP music, while fairly compensating the people who create and publish that music." Cyveillance (http://www.cyveillance.com) was founded in 1997 to help companies protect their intellectual property against piracy and misuse on the Internet. Cyveillance uses its proprietary software technology to locate its clients' copyrighted material and trademarks on the Internet. Cyveillance serves clients in many industries ranging from music and entertainment to software and pharmaceuticals. |
ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento presented ASCAP's breakthrough internet licensing tool, ASCAP EZ-Seeker (see story above), and in the CISAC Daily News, the Congress' daily newspaper, he explained how all Societies could benefit from the new technology: "ASCAP EZ-Seeker is not just a search engine that simply scans the Internet for key words, phrases or file types. Through a proven process, this new technology continuously monitors the Internet to locate the information that societies value most. The ASCAP EZ-Seeker then prioritizes that information according to its potential business impact, so educated licensing decisions can be made.
One of the most important topics of discussion at this year's Congress was the progress of the CIS (Common Information System) and Worksnet, one of CISAC's most ambitious and vital undertakings. CIS, which is a project lead by ASCAP COO Al Wallace, entails the worldwide cooperation of rights societies and guarantees the greatest possible returns for creators for the use of their works.
In other CISAC news, ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento was elected to the CISAC Executive Committee and will help guide the future efforts of the organization.
PlayBack
: October - November - December 1998
ASCAP PlayBack
