ASCAP press release: ASCAP Appoints Clara Kim as EVP and General Counsel

New York, NY, May 12, 2015: ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews today announced the appointment of Clara Kim as the organization’s new Executive Vice President and General Counsel, effective June 1, 2015.   

Clara Kim follows Matthews as General Counsel; Matthews was named CEO in January 2015.  Ms. Kim will oversee all legal and business affairs of ASCAP, managing its legislative team, internal and outside legal services as well as business affairs in all areas of ASCAP’s global operations.

Beth Matthews commented,

“I am thrilled to have someone of Clara’s caliber, business acumen and broad experience joining my senior leadership team to lead our business and legal affairs and legislative teams at ASCAP.

Her expertise across the global media landscape and her knowledge of complex business transactions in the development, distribution and content areas are a perfect match for ASCAP as we evolve to offer best-in-class new services to our diverse constituents, including members and licensing partners. Her proven ability to successfully lead global legal and business affairs teams will be a huge asset to ASCAP as we realize our strategic vision for the future.”

Added Clara Kim: 

“Working at a mission-driven organization like ASCAP with music at its heart truly aligns with my passions, and I am very excited to become part of Beth’s senior team.  I have always been an avid music fan, so I am eager for the opportunity to use my knowledge and experience to help songwriters, composers and music publishers succeed in maximizing their opportunities in this rapidly evolving media landscape. There is no better place than ASCAP to realize my goal of supporting the creative community.”

Prior to joining ASCAP, Ms. Kim served as EVP, Business and Legal Affairs for National Geographic Channels US and International, where she was responsible for their domestic and international businesses. 

Prior to that, she spent two years as general counsel and co-founder of Multi-Verse Media, LLC, which produced original television and digital programming content. 

Before Multi-Verse, she was executive vice president, global business and legal affairs for Discovery Communications, where she oversaw the business and legal affairs teams for all of its domestic and international networks, located in eight offices around the world. 

Ms. Kim also held several general counsel and senior legal positions at Viacom Inc.’s Spike TV, Nickelodeon, MTV Networks International and Showtime Networks. She began her legal career as a corporate attorney at Shearman and Sterling in New York.  She has also served as an adjunct professor at American University’s Graduate School of Communication.

Ms. Kim received a B.A. in comparative literature from Brandeis University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. She is relocating from Washington, D.C. to New York City for her new position at ASCAP. 

About ASCAP 

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business - from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With 530,000 members representing more than 10 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com