Get expert advice at ASCAP music expo

If the recording industry is in such trouble, why are so many people still trying to get in? The question springs to mind as the second annual ASCAP “I Create Music” Expo, set for April 19 to 21, fast approaches.

Registration for this year’s expo has already surpassed last year’s attendance of songwriters and musicians.

Marilyn Bergman, president and chairwoman of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the performance rights organization, said the overflow crowds last year weren’t surprising just for their volume.

“I think we were caught off-guard by the passion and the energy last year, frankly,” she says. “There was a real hunger there for information and connection and some kind of direction.”

The expo, at the Hollywood & Highland complex, is expected to draw more than 1,500 people, more than half of them coming from out of town.

It will feature an interview with Randy Newman and panelists who represent a wide swath of music history and genres, among them Jimmy Webb (“Wichita Lineman,” “MacArthur Park”), Hal David (lyricist collaborator of Burt Bacharach on dozens of signature songs, among them “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”), Johnny Mandel (“Suicide Is Painless” of “MASH” fame), Rhett Miller of the alt-country band Old 97’s, and the songwriting-producer duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, best known for their work with Janet Jackson.

Jam said that although the recording industry is grappling with the digital age, it’s “empowering people to do it all themselves, when it comes to creating music, and it’s empowering them to find new ways to reach audiences. But they still need to answer the same old questions about what to create.”

Expo guests are making themselves available for 15-minute, one-on-one sessions with attendees.

“The opportunity to sit down and get that kind of advice, guidance, criticism and attention is just really special,” said Bergman, who, with her husband, Alan, wrote songs such as “The Way We Were.”

The expo is part of ASCAP’s “I Create Music Week,” which continues to expand its footprint in Los Angeles. The week kicks off April 17 at the Kodak Theatre with the ASCAP Film & Television Music Awards, with a special honor for Marc Shaiman.

At the same venue the next night, Melissa Etheridge will be given a career honor at the organization’s pop music awards. To find more information on the expo or other events, go to www.ascap.com.

-- Geoff Boucher