ASCAP Releases 100th Birthday Song & Video ''More Than The Stars''

New York, NY, December 17, 2013: Today, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) releases its anticipated 100th Birthday campaign's centerpiece song and music video, “More Than the Stars,” featuring an extraordinary collaboration among 15 top ASCAP songwriter and composer members, including Ne-Yo, Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, Dan Wilson, Bill Withers, Aloe Blacc and others. “More Than the Stars” is an inspiring anthem for music creators and music fans alike. As a testament to the diverse cross-section of music talent involved in the song, the music video is debuting simultaneously across four Townsquare Media websites that each cover different genres: PopCrush, Taste of Country, Diffuser.fm and The Boombox.

The song was an unexpected result of ASCAP’s commissioned film Why We Create Music. The collaborative project featured 15 leading music creators sharing their insights on the craft and power of music and also documents them adding musical elements to the score of the film itself. During the filming, the writers and composers were further inspired to create a song that conveys their passion for songwriting and music's power to touch the lives of people. Each of the participants contributed something to the song – music, lyrics, vocals and/or instrumental elements.

Commenting on “More Than the Stars,” recent ASCAP Foundation Champion Award honoree Ne-Yo said: “It’s really special for me to be a part of something that speaks so heavily to the art of songwriting and what it does to people…a kind of 'We Are the World' for songwriters. The song came out fantastic. The film came out fantastic. And I was happy to be a part of it.”

“More Than the Stars” will join the Why We Create Music film, both directed by filmmaker and Already Alive co-founder Michael Marantz, as a major element of ASCAP’s innovative ASCAP100.com website. The site also features an interactive timeline that is revealing 100 Years of ASCAP’s rich history, one day at a time. Starting today, visitor’s to ASCAP100.com can wish “Happy 100th Birthday, ASCAP!” via their social media channels with a Thunderclap crowd-speaking app that will release the message collectively on ASCAP’s official birthday on February 13th, 2014.

Featured on the song and in the music video are:

    • Aloe Blacc, acclaimed soul singer-songwriter behind "I Need a Dollar" and Avicii’s international hit “Wake Me Up”
    • Claudia Brant, Latin Grammy-winning songwriter for Song of the Year
    • Carter Burwell, Oscar-nominated film composer renowned for scoring The Coen Brothers films
    • Amy Grant, Grammy and Dove Award-winning and best-selling contemporary Christian singer-songwriter ever
    • Josh Kear, four-time Grammy-winning country pop songwriter, including Song of the Year, and 2013 ASCAP Country Music Songwriter of the Year
    • Savan Kotecha, hit pop songwriter for Britney Spears, Usher, One Direction and Maroon 5, as well as vocal producer on The X Factor
    • Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, seven-time Grammy-winning country pop singer-songwriters and Song and Record of the Year winners
    • David Lang, Pulitzer Prize-winning concert music composer and Bang on a Can co-founder
    • Bear McCreary, Emmy-winning composer known for his work on The Walking Dead
    • Ne-Yo, three-time Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter
    • Stargate, Grammy-winning record producing and songwriting duo behind pop hits for Ne-Yo, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Rihanna and others
    • Dan Wilson, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter-producer of Adele's "Someone Like You" and "Closing Time" with his band Semisonic
    • Bill Withers, legendary and Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter of "Lean on Me," "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Just the Two of Us"

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 over 480,000 members representing more than 9 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

About Michael Marantz and Already Alive
Michael Marantz is a filmmaker of the new generation. He was able to start his career from utilizing new technologies to get his work made and seen. As a director, composer, and artist he is able to tell stories with a holistic vision. Through his experience with cancer he has learned to appreciate life in a deeply meaningful way and is constantly in pursuit of stirring people to feel the same way he does, alive. He started a studio in 2012, called Already Alive, to do just that. His online films have been seen by millions and featured on The Huffington Post, CBS news, NBC, Wired, and more. He has given talks about the power of story to change our world with such institutions as TED, NYU and others. He is currently working on documentary, narrative, and digital projects and looks forward to more collaborations to tell powerful stories. Already Alive is a studio of filmmakers, storytellers and experience designers with a mission to compel people to come alive through the telling of powerful stories. The studio combines creative, strategy and production for its own projects and commercial work; in other words, they find the best story to tell, figure out the best way to tell it, and then make it. As someone once said, “Life is about stories, good or bad. If you don’t experience something you might as well just lie down and be dead.” www.alreadyalive.com