AIMP LA’s Independent Publisher of the Year and Person of the Year
Every year, AIMP LA’s Board of Directors selects a publishing entity and a person from within our AIMP membership to recognize and honor for their impact, outreach, and advocacy in the indie publishing community. The awards are traditionally presented at our annual Holiday Party.
2024 Award Recipients
Independent Publisher of the Year: Glow Music Group
On December 5, 2024, the LA Chapter presented its Indie Publisher of the Year Award to Glow Music Group with Founder Kari Kimmel accepting. An independent artist, songwriter, and producer who has landed thousands of placements of her music in films, television shows, trailers, video games, and commercials, Kimmel decided to represent other independent bands and facilitate the licensing of their songs, establishing Glow Music Group in 2014 as a full-service synchronization agency and publishing administration company. Together with her husband Jonathan Haskell and her staff, Kimmel has grown Glow Music Group’s roster to over 1,500 current bands spanning diverse genres, as well various vintage artists and catalogs starting in the 1940s.
In 2024, Kimmel is currently working on a new Disney series as Music Director and Series Songwriter and two national ads airing in 2025, and Glow Music Group has had songs air in a myriad of shows and films. This year’s highlights include La Brea, Lisa Frankenstein, Love Is Blind, Resident Alien, Chucky, That 90s Show, Criminal Minds, Cobra Kai, The Fabulous Four, NCIS, English Teacher, American Horror Stories, Hysteria, and Rescue: Hi Surf. Glow Music Group also had a song included in the Oscar-winning film American Fiction. Other recent placements for Glow Music Group artists include renowned brands like Gatorade, Coke, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, and CVS as well as films and TV series such as Poker Face, Seal Team, Snowfall, The Morning Show, Reacher, Shrinking, The Long Game, Shadow Force, The Kill Room, and Spirited.
Person of the Year: Kathy Spanberger
The AIMP LA Chapter presented its Individual(s) Award in Support of Songwriters and Publishers to Kathy Spanberger, President and Chief Operating Officer, peermusic. A music publishing executive with a 44-year tenure at peermusic, Spanberger oversees all music publishing activities for Anglo American territories for the world’s largest global independent music publishing company, including talent and copyright acquisitions, day-to-day operations, and the implementation of the company’s long-term strategic initiatives. She holds a central role in shaping the future of the company by guiding and directly supervising all U.S. signings spanning Pop, Urban, Latin, and Country markets as well as acquisitions, synchronization, and licensing activity. Spanberger also oversees peermusic’s international operations in Australia and Canada. She ranks among the few publishing executives in the marketplace responsible for all creative and administrative operations and one of the very first females in the music publishing industry to serve as President/COO of a music publishing operation.
During her leadership of Peermusic’s U.S. operations, the company has won many of the industry’s top awards, including 135+ BMI awards and 65+ ASCAP awards, including Song of the Year. For her achievements, Spanberger has been named five times to Billboard’s prestigious Women in Music power list and has also been honored as a Billboard Indie Power Player. She advocates tirelessly to protect the rights of music creators and their songs, and her many civic and industry commitments have included serving on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for 12 years; as former President of the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP); and as a former member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s West Coast Committee.
2023 Award Recipients
Independent Publisher of the Year: A & I Music Entertainment
The AIMP LA Chapter presented its Indie Publisher of the Year Award to A&I Music Entertainment at the event with CEO Amelia Cueva accepting. A&I is a publishing house, music consultant, and management company that strives to provide clients with a personal, professional, and caring atmosphere. Consisting of music publishers Empresas CB (SESAC), A and I Music Entertainment (BMI), and La Tapatia Publishing (ASCAP). A&I almost doubled the amount of clients they work with and administer for in 2023. Their catalog includes songs recorded by Peso Pluma, Legion RG, Grupo Firme, Grupo Arriesgado, Alfonso Payan, Rafael Kelly, El Padrinito Toys, El Pantera de Culiacan, Larry Hernandez, Beto Sierra, Santa Fe Klan, Grupo Clasificado, and many more.
Persons of the Year: Todd and Jeff Brabec
The AIMP LA Chapter presented its Individual(s) Award in Support of Songwriters and Publishers to twin brothers Todd and Jeff Brabec. Todd, an AIMP LA Chapter Board member, is an Entertainment Law attorney and former ASCAP Executive Vice President and Worldwide Director of Membership. Jeff is Senior Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs for BMG Rights Management (US) LLC (BMG), specializing in evaluating, analyzing, projecting income, and negotiating music publishing catalog acquisitions. He also sits on the board of the Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) and the Canadian Publishers Committee (CPC) of SXWorks, LLC. Together, the brothers co-wrote the best-selling music business book Music, Money and Success: The Insider’s Guide to Making Money in the Music Business, which was named one of The Best Music Books of 2019 by Variety after the release of its 8th Edition that year. They are also both Adjunct Professors at USC. Collectively, they have previously been recognized with the Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Journalism, The Texas Star Award by the Entertainment & Sports Law Section of the State Bar of Texas for Outstanding Contribution and Achievement in the Field of Entertainment Law, the 2005 Educational Leadership Award from the Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA), and the 2019 California Copyright Conference Apollo Award Honoring Leadership and Achievement In the Music Industry.
2022 Award Winners
Independent Publisher of the Year: North Music Group
AIMP LA presented its Publisher of the Year award to North Music Group (NMG). Based in Los Angeles, NMG is a full-service music rights management company that specializes in the administration of music compositions and sound recordings. Abby North is principal of NMG and a founder of Unchained Melody Publishing LLC. NMG represents over 100,000 musical works and sound recordings, including evergreen commercial and film/TV copyrights. It was created to work with families that control both composition and sound recording copyrights, providing them with a boutique, trusted rights management partner who can advise regarding estate issues, copyright and terminations, and ways to generate new revenue. While NMG’s catalog was born from these legacy copyrights, it has since expanded into current commercial works and sub-publishing of production music libraries.To facilitate its rights management, NMG has developed technology for CWR creation, royalty processing, and music IP/metadata tracking.
Person of the Year: Jay Cooper, Esq.
AIMP LA presented its 2022 Person of the Year award to Jay Cooper for his unwavering support for songwriters and publishers. Cooper is the Founder of the Los Angeles Entertainment Practice of Greenberg Traurig and focuses his practice on music industry, motion picture, television, internet, multimedia, and intellectual property issues. He represents individuals and companies on intellectual property matters and contract negotiations, including recording and publishing agreements for individual artists and composers; actor, director, producer, and writer agreements in film and television; executive employment agreements; complex acquisitions and sales of entertainment catalogs; production agreements on behalf of music, television, and motion picture companies, and all entertainment issues relative to the Internet and digital services. He has been named to Billboard’s 2022 Top MusicLawyers list from 2017-2022, the Chamber USA Guide from 2004-2022, and participated in Varietys Legal Impact Report in 2013 and 2022. He has also been listed as one of The Best Lawyers in America, Entertainment Law – Music; Entertainment – Motion Pictures and Television from 1987-2023.
