FastTrack Board Names BMI’s Preston As Chair; Sacem’s Miyet As Vice-Chair

Posted in News on October 6, 2003

The FastTrack Supervisory Board, meeting in Copenhagen last week, has named BMI's (USA) President and CEO Frances W. Preston, as its new Chairperson, succeeding outgoing Chair Professor Mauro Masi of Italy's SIAE. SACEM's (France) Chief Executive, Bernard Miyet, was named Vice-Chair and succeeds Preston in this post.

"I am honored to serve as FastTrack's Chair as we enter into a new era in the organization's development," said Preston. "The Global Documentation and Distribution Network (GDDN) now contains well over eleven million musical works and is, by far, the largest international database in the copyright industry. It is already improving the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of our international royalty information as it becomes a day-to-day tool for FastTrack Societies."

"All of us on the Board want to extend a special vote of thanks and heartfelt gratitude to Professor Masi for shouldering the responsibilities of chairmanship during FastTrack's first three years and helping to turn the concept of a global copyright network into a functioning reality. As we go forward, I am especially pleased that Bernard Miyet has been appointed as FastTrack's Vice-Chair. His leadership has made SACEM one of the most enthusiastic and successful societies implementing FastTrack technologies and business systems," said Preston.

FastTrack Managing Director Chris Van Houten said, "Frances Preston and Bernard Miyet share the vision of what FastTrack will mean to the international copyright community, and I am excited as I look forward to building FastTrack's next phase under the leadership of these outstanding executives." FastTrack currently encompasses nine European and American copyright organizations including BMI (USA), SACEM (France), AKM (Austria), Austro-Mechana (Austria), GEMA (Germany), SABAM (Belgium), SGAE (Spain), SIAE (Italy), and SUISA (Switzerland). The FastTrack Board has approved membership applications from several additional societies, which are now in various stages of completing required technical and legal steps. Official international announcements of new members are anticipated at MIDEM in January 2004.

SOURCENews TAGS International Legal Musicworld Feature Artists Frances Preston