ASCAP Experience 2026 Trip Reports

The ASCAP Experience 2026 was held last month, 12 February 2026. Here are a couple reports by ASMAC Emerging Professionals Oliviana Marie and Annette Johnson.

The ASCAP Experience by Oliviana Marie

It was a crisp February morning, as we lined up outside of the gorgeous Skirball Cultural Center, eagerly anticipating the panels, presentations and performances that were in store at The ASCAP Experience. There’s just something about the creative energy that starts flowing, when you’re surrounded by a group of artists, with coffee in their hands and songs in their hearts. The day began with a Membership Meeting in Herscher Hall, where ASCAP CEO Beth Matthews and ASCAP President Paul Williams discussed the organization’s historic revenues, and presented the ASCAP Founders Award to the legendary Adam Sandler. It was heartwarming to hear this comedy icon speak so fondly about songwriting and the ASCAP community.

Next, I attended two panels about music for sync, wonderfully and insightfully moderated by songwriter Jeannie Lurie (Hannah Montana, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series). Jeannie told a story about creating a song pitch “Exceptional Zed” for Disney’s Zombies 3, and her humorous ritual for the unfortunate reality of dealing with rejection. After playing her version of Exceptional Zed, Jeannie cunningly turned to the audience and asked “did anyone else here happen to write a song for this brief?” As if on cue, two songwriters who were seated at our table, raised their hands. The Emmy Award-winning songwriters Tova Litvin (IMDb) and Michelle Zarlenga each played their own catchy and fun pitches for “Exceptional Zed,” and then discussed which song was chosen and why it was the most suitable choice to serve the story and the characters. Even though they had all been applying for the same opportunity, they were the best of friends and supportive of whoever booked it!

There were expert presentations about Metadata with Ed Razzano, Social Media with Cassie Petrey, and Networking with Amanda Jones (video). Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis spoke about their longtime friendship and unique royalty split – they go 50/50 on everything either one of them writes, even if they wrote it on their own! We ended the day with The Writers Jam, featuring Annika Bennett, Camper, Andreas Carlsson, and Steph Jones. There’s nothing quite like hearing songwriters perform their own songs, just as they intended them. It always brings a new perspective!

Writing music can often be a solitary endeavour, so communities like ASCAP are so important. I reconnected with folks I knew and made tons of new friends! I ran into fellow ASMAC Emerging Professionals Committee member Annette Johnson, and met for the first time in person, fellow 2023 Bill Conti Big Band Arranging winner Paul Stovall. I reconnected with a dear friend, the visionary Amanda Shoffner, ASCAP Senior Director of Film & TV/Visual Media, and had the pleasure of meeting the brilliant, generous and kind Paul Williams. No matter whether you’ve written one song or one thousand, you were part of the family at the ASCAP Experience!

ASCAP Experience Thoughts by Annette Johnson

Yesterday, I went to the ASCAP Experience at the Skirball Cultural Center. When I was there, I went to the ASCAP Membership Meeting where Beth Matthews (ASCAP CEO) and Paul Williams (ASCAP President and Chairman) spoke about ASCAP’s goals in helping musicians. I really liked that they were transparent with the organization’s finances, and how ASCAP puts the artist first. Then I was surprised to find that Adam Sandler was at the event, and saw him receive the ASCAP Founders Award.

During the lunch break, I saw some old friends and met some new ones.

Afterwards, I went to The Hitmakers panel with Mauricio Ruiz (moderator, host of The Manager’s Playbook podcast), James Fauntleroy, Nova Wav, Mark Sonnenblick, and Justin Tranter. I got to hear their advice on their journeys as songwriters. A big message from them and other panels throughout the day was the importance of collaboration. It was cool hearing their stories and their perspectives on songwriting!

Then I met with Oliviana. We saw three panels talking about social media, metadata, and building a network. Something that I thought was interesting about the social media talk was when the speaker, Cassie Petrey (snippet from the ASCAP Experience), talked about how Large Language Models (LLMs) are going to be super important for musicians promoting their work. She mentioned how the text we use in websites, Instagram bios, and other platforms matter more now than ever, because people ask LLMs for playlist recommendations, and new artist recommendations.

The next panel I went to had Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis talking about their careers with Adam Blackstone (moderator). They told stories about their early careers beginning in Minneapolis, and their experiences working with people like Janet Jackson and Prince! Again, collaboration was a very big theme within the conversation, and it made me think about the people I want to collaborate with. They shared a lot of wisdom which included them saying “an argument is something you’re trying to win, a disagreement is something you’re trying to solve.”

It was such a great day that went by quickly. The people I met and listened to shared a wealth of information. I left feeling inspired.