The Association of Music Producers (AMP) held its annual meeting last week in New York where it elected 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, who becomes an association VP; Steve Keller, iV Audio Branding, also an AMP VP; Tina Marie Thorland of Elias who serves as treasurer; Elad Marish of 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,” said 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 Awards. 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.
Besides electing a new slate of board members and officers during the AMP meeting held at the studios of Tonefarmer in NYC, those in attendance also previewed the newly redesigned AMP web site, www.ampnow.com, and heard Antfood’s Brown brief them on the latest news and developments regarding digital performance royalties.
AICP president and 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 postproduction services to ad agencies, brands and media companies, which was followed by detailed reports for the East, Midwest and West chapters.
Keller of iV Audio Branding 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 the proceedings was a presentation by Jeff Rosner, chair of the AMP Awards Committee, and AMP past president Lyle Greenfield, on plans for the upcoming 2016 AMP Awards, which are set for May 11 at City Winery in New York.
