Neil Gaffney Named ASCAP Senior Vice President, International Affairs

15 October 2014 - Press release

ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento has announced the appointment of Neil Gaffney to Senior Vice President, International Affairs, effective October 1st. Reporting directly to LoFrumento, Gaffney will be responsible for the interests of ASCAP members internationally, and for maintaining strong relationships with performing rights societies around the world.

LoFrumento commented, “Neil Gaffney has a deep understanding of the complex issues in global music rights licensing, digital rights management, tracking and building revenues. He is a well-respected and very effective executive who will lead ASCAP’s international efforts during a time of tremendous change and opportunity. We’re excited to have him as part of our management team.”

ASCAP EVP of International Roger Greenaway, who earlier announced his retirement from ASCAP at the end of 2014, added:  “Neil brings a wealth of international experience and high level relationships to ASCAP, having been at the center of several initiatives in managing and protecting copyrights globally.  I’m delighted that he will put his talents to work for the members of ASCAP.”

Added Gaffney, “I have always admired ASCAP’s work on the forefront of so many of the important developments to protect and promote the music of its members in every corner of the world. The opportunity to help promote the most performed and best-loved catalog of music in the world is a dream come true. We’re in an exciting era of change in licensing and rights administration, and I am thrilled to be part of the ASCAP team as we work toward ensuring a vibrant and healthy future for creators – from offering the most advanced technology platforms to advocacy. I look forward to helping to make a real, positive difference especially for the songwriters, composers and publishers that ASCAP represents.”

Neil Gaffney brings to his new role at ASCAP over 25 years as an executive in administration of music rights. Most recently, he was owner of Right Thinking Solutions, where he provided innovative services in global music industry operations specializing in strategic-analysis, digital rights management, tracking and revenue recovery, business process re-engineering, business administration, and change management to a number of publisher and collection society clients. Prior to that, Gaffney was at EMI Music Publishing, where he held a number of high-level global management positions. As EMI’s Executive Vice President – Global Services & European Society Relations, he led various initiatives, delivering business administration improvements and advances in publisher-society relations through fact-based analysis and continuous, positive engagement while serving on the Boards of ICMP, IMPA and SABAM.

He studied law at Birkbeck, University of London, specializing in Contract & International Law.