COPILOT’s Jason Menkes Elected President of Association of Music Producers
The Association of Music Producers (AMP) held its annual meeting in New York last week and elected a new president, unveiled its new website, laid out plans for its upcoming AMP Awards competition and show, and addressed key issues facing the advertising music industry.
During the meeting held at the studios of Tonefarmer in New York, the association voted to elect Jason Menkes, Partner and Executive Producer at COPILOT Strategic Music + Sound, as its National President. Menkes succeeds Marlene Bartos, Executive Producer of Yessian in New York, who continues to serve on the AMP National Board as well as on the AMP East Chapter Board.
In addition to Menkes and Bartos, the 2016 AMP National Board now consists of Georg Bissen, MetaTechnik, Vice President; Steve Keller, iV Audio Branding, Vice President; Tina Marie Thorland, Elias, Treasurer; Elad Marish, Swell, Communications Officer (Secretary); Wilson Brown, Antfood, East Member; Elizabeth Myers, Trivers/Myers, West Member; and Bryan Rheude, Comma, Midwest Member.
“It’s an honor to be able to represent my colleagues, peers and friends as President of the Association of Music Producers,” says Menkes. “It’s an exciting time to take the reins, as our industry is in a constant state of adaptation and reinvention. Our new National Board reflects a broad range of music businesses within the advertising, branding and marketing industries, and their unique perspectives have allowed us to broaden AMP's focus to new committees and events. Our expanded AMP Awards committee has already hit the ground running, with a goal of making this year’s AMP Awards our biggest and best yet.”
Menkes brings a varied background to his role as AMP National President. The same year COPILOT was launched, 2008, he was elected the youngest member of the AMP National Board. The following year he was also elected President of AMP’s East Chapter. His studio’s work has been recognized at such prestigious award shows – including the AMP Awards, naturally – as Cannes Lions, the AICP Show, the AICP Next Awards, CLIO, Key Art Awards and London International. Prior to opening COPILOT, Menkes was an EP at Sacred Noise and, before that, at tomandandy. He also spent time on the agency side as a music producer at Grey, Saatchi & Saatchi and BBDO.
In addition to electing a new slate of board members and officers, those in attendance also previewed the newly redesigned AMP web site, www.ampnow.com, which was unveiled by MetaTechnik’s Georg Bissen of Swell’s Elad Marish, and heard Antfood’s Wilson Brown brief them on the latest news and developments regarding digital performance royalties.
AICP CEO Matt Miller opened the meeting with an overview of current issues and areas of mutual concern facing not just AMP members but all companies providing music, sound, production and post production services to ad agencies, brands and media companies, which was followed by detailed chapter reports for the East, Midwest and West chapters.
Steve Keller of iV in Nashville shared an ‘at-large’ report that touched on topics like agencies and brands looking to wrest control of music production, creation and licensing, as well as the ongoing impact of music being seen by many consumers as a commodity. He also talked about the growing opportunities for AMP members as marketers embrace music as essential elements of their brand messaging.
Wrapping up was a presentation by Jeff Rosner, Chair of the AMP Awards Committee, and Past President Lyle Greenfield, on plans for the upcoming 2016 AMP Awards, which are set for May 11 at City Winery in New York.
For more information on the Association of Music Producers, visit www.ampnow.com. For more information on the 2016 AMP Awards, visit http://www.amp-awards.com or the awards’ Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/
