Thursday, April 18th The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) kicked off their 8th annual ASCAP “I Create Music” Expo, at the Loews Hollywood Hotel (formerly known as the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel) in Los Angeles, CA. Spanning 4 days, the event is the first and only national conference dedicated to songwriters and composers.
We started the day of panels with a bang (or should I say “Fireworks”) with California Girl and pop sensation keynote Katy Perry, who spoke with ASCAP EVP of Membership, Randy Grimmett. During the interview, Perry revealed she’ll be working hit producers Max Martin, Dr. Luke, and Greg Wells. She gave insight to her writing process, including a patented “word vomit” method:
“[Greg Wells] allows me to vomit words. Not that I can’t find that with others, but he just lets me [makes vomiting sound].”
She went on to say: “Max and Luke push me the most. As a team we have certain strengths. With Max, it’s melody choices, Luke is production, and I’m topline and melody.”
Three other fun facts we discovered about Katy Perry:
Katy’s Mom used to date Jimi Hendrix, and her Dad was Timothy Leary’s acid dealer.
When Katy got her first record deal, she also got a black Jetta and a Louis Vitton keychain and thought, “She was the shit.”
During a writing session for “Teenage Dream” with Bonnie McKee, lyrics “next thing you know you’re just a mom in a minivan” almost made it into the song.
Next we swung by the “Production Music, the DIY Way” panel featuring panelists March Ferrari (Producer and Consultant of MasterSource Music Library and author of Rock Star 101), Jared Gutstadt (CEO and Co-Founder, Jingle Punks), Matt Kierscht (Music Supervisor and Composer – Quiet On The Set, Inc.), and Brad Segal, owner of FineTune Music.)
This was a cool sneak peek into the world of music placements, composing for TV, and how music placement has evolved over the last couple decades. Marc Ferrari relayed a surprising, ancient ritual from Music Supervision in the days of yore—going to Tower Records (remember that place?) to buy CDs (remember those?) to place into films. Crazy.
Overall, when asked what made them successful in the industry, the overwhelming sentiment was: Hustle Hard. “It’s all about maintaining relationships.” said Matt Kiersch, who before founding Jingle Punks toured in his band. “It’s like playing in a band—you can’t play a venue, trash it, and say ‘see you next year, dude.'” I’ll keep that in mind.
Last stop was another star-studded conversation between Grammy Award-winning songwriting/ production team Stargate with collaborator and Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter and producer Ne-Yo. My favorite part of the interview was when each artist picked a song that they felt defined them:
Ne-Yo: “Suddenly,” Billy Ocean. Why? The song demonstrates how powerful a winning trifecta of lyric, melody, and music can be. Also, it made him sob like a helpless baby from age 8-15 every time his mom would play the song.
Mikkel Storleer Eriksen: “Human Nature,” Michael Jackson. Why? Quite simply, timeless magic.
Tor Erik Hermansen: “Little Red Corvette,” Prince. Why? Iconic chord progressions that defined a whole decade, Prince’s ability to create a whole universe within a song, and one of the boldest opening statements in a pop song ever.
Closing out the Expo with a bang, and my favorite words of the day came from Stargate: “Make the music you love and don’t worry about creating it for the market.” Amen.
We kicked off day one “I Create Music” with a quick ASCAP EXPO photo opp—love the cartoon signs they had!
For more information about the annual ASCAP EXPO, visit ascap.com.
Photos: Zachary James, PictureGroup
