Press Release

NMPA to Hold 1998 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.
Rep. Howard Coble to Speak
Famed Songwriter Cy Coleman
To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

The National Music Publishers' Association's annual meeting will feature an address by Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), Chairman, Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, Committee on the Judiciary, and the presentation by NMPA/HFA President and CEO, Edward P. Murphy, of the President's Lifetime Achievement Award to legendary composer Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity, The Life, Barnum, On the Twentieth Century). The meeting, which will be attended by the leading music publishers from throughout the United States, will take place on July 20 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles.

Murphy will also review the past year' accomplishments, emphasizing legislative priorities and the HFA audit program, and announce a new and exciting digital licensing system which contains a special element called MDOI (Musical Digital Object Identifier). He will present the seventh annual international survey of music publishing revenues, which includes the 1996 reporting results of collecting societies in 51 territories.

In addition, NMPA/HFA Chairman Irwin Z. Robinson will report on the new copyright law in Mexico and its implications for U.S. music publishers; Alan Shulman, Special Counsel to the Harry Fox Agency, Inc., will address HFA support of publishers' rights in the courts; and Peter Felcher, General Counsel to NMPA/HFA, will speak on state immunity for copyright infringement under the 11th amendment, and interaction of first sale and import provisions of the copyright act.

The National Music Publishers' Association, founded in 1917, works to protect and advance the interests of the music publishing industry. With over 600 members, the NMPA represents the most important and influential music publishing firms throughout the United States. The Harry Fox Agency, a licensing subsidiary of NMPA, provides an information source, clearing house, and monitoring service for licensing musical copyrights, and represents 19,000 music publishers.