National Board President
Association of Music Producers (AMP) | www.ampnow.com
Founded: 1997
Members: 82
Please provide a brief description of your membership and what industry/industries your Organization serves.
AMP is an organization of industry professionals dedicated to improving the business environment for music and sound creation and curation. It is the only professional trade association that deals directly with music and sound for advertising, as well as sponsored entertainment and sonic branding. AMP’s members include music companies that provide original and/or licensed or production music, as well as music supervision. Members also include music publishers, audio post houses, sound design studios and individuals.
Please provide a brief description of the mission of your Organization.
The Association of Music Producers (AMP) was founded for the purpose of educating its members, as well as the production, advertising and media communities, on all facets of music production, from creation to final use. AMP was formed to address the common goals and concerns of those who make the music. A national organization, it has chapters in New York and Los Angeles and member representation in cities across the country. It consistently and aggressively advocates on behalf of its members for transparency and fair business practices. Membership keeps business owners on top of important, ever-changing issues, trends, regulations and legislation that affects their businesses.
What guidance are you providing your members about the restarting of production and/or postproduction? What precautions/best practices do you recommend? (You are welcome to provide a direct link to a page on your site that addresses this question with regard to set guidelines/policies, etc.)
AMP has not issued any formal guidelines to its members regarding reopening their businesses as of yet. We continue to follow local and state guidelines in terms of when it may be safe to reopen. And we also look towards our sister organization, the AICP, for guidance, particularly via their workplace recommendations posted on the AICP site. AMP members who are also AICP members have been taking part in their weekly Town Halls to stay on top of the latest information, particularly as it relates to stimulus programs and other forms of government assistance for small businesses.
Prior to the pandemic, industry execs and artisans were in the business of balancing art and commerce–as well as safety. But now safety, health and welfare concerns take on a whole new dimension due to the virus crisis. What advice/counsel and/or vision do you have to offer to the overall entertainment and/or advertising industries on the future of production and/or postproduction?
The industry has already trended towards more compartmentalized and individual music production. A lot of the big recording sessions with multiple musicians have, for the most part, become a thing of the past. However, woodwind and brass players should probably be recorded individually for sure, as sharing enclosed spaces while exhaling with force has been found to be a situation in which the virus can spread very easily.
I would envision member companies to reopen their studios very cautiously and try to continue doing as much work remotely as possible until the pandemic has truly passed. Location and office space size should also be of consideration. For example, for our West Coast members with larger spaces where it’s more likely employees will arrive by car, I would find that less risky as compared to our New York members, whose employees may be arriving by subway and are crammed into smaller offices.
Keeping recommended distances, having proper ventilation in offices, and doing as many sessions online as possible would be a start. Having hand sanitizer in every room might help too, as well as having extra cleaning crews disinfect the office nightly. But in the end, it is up to each individual company to decide when is the right time to reopen and weigh the different risks.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More