NMPA’s Annual Golf Gala Went Ahead as Planned In Pacific Palisades — And Raised 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 a smattering of light rain and cloudy skies on Monday—cool and damp climes for the NMPA’s annual SONGS Foundation Golf Tournament at the swanky Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades. That type of weather was sorely 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. For music publishers, songwriters, composers, and others attending the National Music Publishers’ Association’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 the songwriting and publishing communities will benefit.

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

Among the who’s who of attendees: Fallout Boy’s Pete Wentz (and his father); Cam Avery of Tame Impala; Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish; Walker Hayes; 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 hanging out, including CEO David Israelite, EVP and General Counsel Danielle Aguirre, and the aforementioned Charlotte Sellmyer.

Beyond that, the sponsor list was deep, with seemingly every hole sponsored by a music publishing heavyweight, streaming platform, PRO, or industry law firm (in this case, LaPolt Law, P.C.).

Spotify was non-existent at the event, which makes sense given the DSP’s deep beef with music publishers and songwriters. But Amazon Music was thoroughly involved, and even TikTok was a sponsoring partner.

The festivities also included a performance by songwriter Wrabel, who offered a stunning rendition of “All That Really Matters” by Teddy Swims — a song Wrabel co-wrote. All in all, it was a pretty damn good shindig — scroll down for more pics!