NMPA Annual Golf Gala Raises a Cool $350,000 for Fire Relief

One could be forgiven for predicting that the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) might nix their annual golf outing in Los Angeles this year. Instead, the NMPA SONGS Foundation Golf Tournament went ahead as planned this week — just minutes from the fire lines in Pacific Palisades.

Ironically, mother nature offered smattering of light rain and cloudy skies on Monday — cool and clammy climes for the NMPA’s annual SONGS Foundation Golf Tournament at the swanky Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades. It was exactly what was needed a few months ago as fires ripped through the area, though Riviera was thankfully spared.

Things have been quiet around these parts ever since: according to one Riviera caddy, member traffic has been sharply down at the club since the Palisades fires, for a variety of reasons. And for music publishers, songwriters, composers, and others attending the National Music Publishers’ Association’s s annual golf outing, it was difficult to imagine just how close the fires burned — though the mood was upbeat and donation dollars were flowing.

All in all, the event rustled a cool $350,000 for fire relief efforts through Musicares, according to NMPA Senior Vice President of External Affairs Charlotte Sellmyer. Not bad for a single-day event, and songwriting and publishing communities will be benefiting.

Another interesting twist: LA firefighters were the featured stars this time around, though plenty of superstar songwriters, performers, producers, publishing execs were also mingling around.

For those inside the music publishing realm, this was a who’s who. Among the attendees: Fallout Boy’s Pete Wentz (and his father), Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish, Walker Hayes, Cam Avery of Tame Impala, Dan Omelio (aka Robopop), Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs, songwriter Ross Golan, Mark Wystrach and Cameron Duddy of country group Midland, Cooper Alan, producer, composer, and writer Alex Hitchens, Mark Cazorla of The Record Company, and Mozella.

On the executive side, the ranks included Jody Klein (Abkco), Larry Mestel (Primary Wave), Jeff Pachman (Domino), Peter Brodsky (Sony Music Publishing), Frank Liwall (Royalty Network), Jenny Kim (Morgan Stanley), Thomas Winkler (Amazon Music), Jon Cohen (Amazon Music), and Bob Valentine (Concord).

NMPA brass were also milling around, including CEO David Israelite, EVP and General Counsel Danielle Aguirre, and the aforementioned Charlotte Sellmyer.

The festivities also included a performance by songwriter Wrable, who offered a stunning rendition of “All That Really Matters” by Teddy Swims — a song he co-wrote.

All in all, ’twas a pretty damn good shindig!