Ralph Peer II
Ralph Peer, II, Chairman and CEO of peermusic, oversees a global network of music publishing companies operating from 33 offices in 27 countries. With well over a quarter of a million titles in the company's catalogue, and songs that vary from country, blues, jazz and pop to Latin, concert and rock 'n' roll, Ralph Peer, II directs the largest privately owned company of its kind in the world.
A respected authority on copyright, Ralph Peer, II is vice president and director of the National Music Publishers' Association (U.S.A.) and the Harry Fox Agency. He is a lifetime director and past president of the Country Music Association and served for many years as a publisher/director of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). In the international arena, Peer is Chairman of the Paris-based International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP) and was honored at MIDEM 1998 as "Music Maker of the Year." He served for a number of years on the board of MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, U.K.).
He is a former Trustee of the Copyright Society of the USA for whom he delivered the 1983 Jean Geiringer lecture in International Copyright Law. In 2001, the American Songwriters Hall of Fame honored him with their music publisher’s award and in 2002 he garnered “The Indie Award” from the Association of Independent Music Publishers.
Peer serves as CEO of digitalpressure.com, Inc., peermusic’s digital distribution service. He was a founding director of eMusic, now part of Vivendi-Universal, the first record company with a primary focus on the Internet as a platform for the sale and electronic distribution of music and owner of the immensely popular RollingStone.com site.
Peer received his Bachelor's degree from Stanford University and his Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Business School. In 1999, Peer was awarded an honorary doctorate of philosophy from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany.
Mr. Peer is based in San Francisco, California.
