In the Room w/ Beth Matthews and Justin Tranter

In the Room w/ Beth Matthews and Justin Tranter

In celebration of our 10 year anniversary, SONA’s signature In The Room w/ series is live and in-person in Los Angeles and features a conversation between award-winning songwriter and producer Justin Tranter and ASCAP CEO BethMatthews. Both recipients of 2023 SONA Warrior Awards, Tranter and Matthews will discuss the function of PROs, their importance for songwriters and publishers, the evolving global landscape for PROs, and the advocacy initiatives ASCAP is working on – including issues around AI and the recent Notice of Inquiry from the U.S. Copyright Office.

SONA members, please join us April 29 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. PT at Village Studios in Los Angeles! Space is limited and registration is required and available on a first come first serve basis. We will send a confirmation email if there are seats available. Please only register if you plan to attend. Light bites and beverages will be served and parking instructions will be emailed with your confirmation.

Date and Time:
Tuesday, April 29, 4 – 5 p.m. PT

Location:
The Moroccan Room at The Village LA, CA

ABOUT JUSTIN TRANTER
Justin Tranter is one of the most in-demand producers and songwriters in music today, an ACLU Bill of Rights Award-winning activist and founder of Facet Records and Facet Publishing. With over 75 million single sales, 100 billion streams on Spotify and YouTube alone, 3 diamond-certified songs and dozens of honors as well as multiple GRAMMY and Golden Globes nominations (including a “Songwriter Of The Year” nomination at the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards as well as a “Song Of The Year” nomination at the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards for his work on Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!”),16 total BMI Pop Awards and two consecutive “Songwriter of the Year” titles at the BMI Pop Awards and a 2023 SONA Warrior Award, Tranter’s work has topped the charts while shaping and defining sounds of the past decade and beyond. Most recently, Tranter won “International Song Of The Year” at the 2025 Brit Awards for his work on Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” and received a “Songwriter Of The Year” nomination at this years’ iHeartRadio Music Awards.

Tranter’s unparalleled creative fingerprint can be felt across music, film, TV and theater, as he’s lent his talents to some of the most iconic songs and albums in recent memory; Justin Bieber’s diamond-certified smash “Sorry,” Imagine Dragons and JID’s #1 single “Enemy,” Selena Gomez’s “Good For You” (featuring A$AP Rocky), Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” and “My Kink Is Karma,” Saweetie’s “NaNi,” Reneé Rapp’s “Pretty Girls” and “Gemini Moon,” Måneskin’s “Honey! (Are U Coming?),” DNCE’s “Cake by the Ocean,” Maroon 5’s “Cold, Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next (2019), Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia (2020), Lady Gaga’s Chromatica (2020), The Chicks’ Gaslighter (2020), Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation (2023), Gomez’s Rare (2020) and Bieber’s Purpose (2015). In addition, he has written regularly with some of the biggest names in music such as Cardi B, Jonas Brothers, Sam Smith, Kid Cudi, Janelle Monáe, Cynthia Erivo, Leon Bridges, King Princess, Kim Petras and more.

Tranter co-created the heralded musical WILD: A Musical Becoming starring Idina Menzel, which was directed by Diane Paulus and written by V (formerly Eve Ensler). In addition to co-writing several original songs for Netflix’s runaway summer hit Purple Hearts (2022), he also served as executive music producer for Billy Porter’s brand new directorial debut Anything’s Possible (2022) and served as the executive producer for the soundtrack to Happiest Season (2020), Hulu’s record-breaking holiday film. Tranter also executive produced and wrote more than 30 original songs for the Grease prequel series Rise of The Pink Ladies where he also had a starring role as the Angel of Fashion.

His journey is also guided by the community he’s built and grown with Facet House, an inclusive home for publishing and artistry run by Tranter, who has devoted himself to numerous equal pay initiatives for songwriters as well as supporting singers/songwriters he believes in. Artists like Jake Wesley Rogers and Shea Diamond call Facet home, as do writers such as Skyler Stonestreet (“Boyfriend” by Dove Cameron), Blush (“What It Is” by Doechii) Russ Chell (“Rodeo” by Lil Nas X and Cardi B) and Jason Gill (“Never Really Over” by Katy Perry).

Most recently, Tranter partnered with Google and YouTube to unveil a suite of new music tools dubbed, “Music AI Sandbox.” This state of the art technology is designed to open a new playground for creativity, allowing users to generate new instrumental sections from scratch while transforming sound in new ways. In addition, Tranter has been named a U.S. Global Music Ambassador as part of the U.S. Department of State and YouTube’s Global Music Partnership. Additional ambassadors include Chuck D, Grace Bowers, Kane Brown, Herbie Hancock, Jelly Roll and more.

As a former board member of GLAAD and the ACLU of Southern California, Tranter is an outspoken supporter of human rights with a storied track record of fighting for change, inclusivity and diversity. Tranter’s activism work has been prolific and in 2019 he earned the prestigious ACLU Bill of Rights Award for his continued dedication to making meaningful change. Most recently, Tranter accepted the Equality Visibility Award at Los Angeles’ Equality Awards, celebrating his activism and continued work within the LGBTQIA+ community.

ABOUT BETH MATTHEWS
Elizabeth Matthews is Chief Executive Officer of ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP), a membership association of more than one million US composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP licenses the public performance of its member’s music, collects license fees, tracks performances and distributes to its members royalties based on their performances. Matthews has led ASCAP to record-breaking revenues and distributions for the past nine years. In 2024, ASCAP delivered $1.835 billion in revenue and $1.696 billion in distributions, up 5.7% and 6.5%, respectively, over the previous year. It was the eighth year that ASCAP distributions exceeded $1 billion. Since her tenure as CEO in 2015, ASCAP has generated a 7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for total revenues, and an 8% CAGR for total royalty distributions to members. ASCAP is the only U.S. performing rights organization that operates on a not-for-profit basis and delivers nearly 90 cents on every dollar collected back to its members as royalties with a 10% operating ratio.

Beth has been instrumental in leading ASCAP’s advocacy efforts to modernize music licensing. She has spearheaded a transformative six-year strategic plan to meet the future needs of ASCAP’s members and licensing partners, and has closed major deals with key licensees, including top streaming, broadcast, audio and audio-visual licensees that are yielding higher royalties for ASCAP songwriters, composers and music publishers.

Under Beth’s leadership, ASCAP has launched pioneering transparency initiatives and technology innovations and has annually processed trillions of performances of the more than 20 million works in the ASCAP repertory. Beth has become an industry leader on Artificial Intelligence (AI), with ASCAP as the only PRO to formally adopt principles that will protect songwriters and guide the organization’s decisions on the technology. Other AI-related initiatives she has implemented include creator education sessions, start-up incubation and policy advocacy on Capitol Hill.

She has earned a spot on Billboard’s Power 100 list nine times since 2016, has been regularly featured in Billboard’s Women In Music issue, and was selected for CNBC’s Changemakers: Women Transforming Business in 2025. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) as well as on the Board of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, among other Board seats.

Beth joined ASCAP in 2013 as Executive Vice President and General Counsel, overseeing the ASCAP Business &; Legal Affairs department. Previously, she worked at Viacom Media Networks (formerly MTV Networks), where she held the position of Executive Vice President & Deputy General Counsel. She managed and oversaw the VMN Business and Legal Affairs teams covering Advertising, Content Distribution and
Marketing, New Business Development, Global Digital and New Media and the VMN Mergers and Acquisitions Pipeline, Research and various Ancillary Businesses. Beth was also responsible for drafting, structuring, reviewing and negotiation of strategic and complex commercial transactions across Viacom Media Networks’ programming services, including MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT, Spike and Nickelodeon, among others. Prior to Viacom Media Networks, Matthews worked in the Intellectual Property and Corporate Groups for Chadbourne & Parke and the Business Technology Group for Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Beth received her B.A. from Purdue University and her J.D. from Emory School of Law.