GRAMMY Foundation event to celebrate 11th annual scholarship presentation during GRAMMY Week
GRAMMY.com
(For a complete list of 51st GRAMMY Awards winners, please click here.)
Nokia's executive vice president of entertainment service Tero Ojanperä will deliver the keynote address at the 11th Annual Entertainment Law Initiative Luncheon & Scholarship Presentation on Feb. 6 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, it was announced today by the GRAMMY Foundation. Distinguished entertainment attorney Jay Cooper will be the recipient of the 2009 Service Award at this year's luncheon.
The ELI Luncheon is one of the most prestigious events held during GRAMMY Week, a celebration that will culminate with the 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 8.
"The GRAMMY Foundation's Entertainment Law Initiative endeavors to promote future careers in entertainment law by seeking out the nation's top students and giving them a valuable forum for research, discussion and debate," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy, the GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares. "ELI is designed to forge a connection between the creative, technical and legal communities of the music industry and it is an extraordinary and welcome opportunity to have Tero — who also happens to be a Board member of our MusiCares Foundation — join us to offer his keen and timely insights on our evolving musical landscape."
"I am looking forward to this opportunity to examine the lessons we've learned in creating a completely new industry model with our Comes With Music service and explore what 2009 holds for the future of music — and entertainment — on mobile devices," said Ojanperä.
Ojanperä is the head of Nokia's entertainment business. As executive vice president of entertainment services, he is at the forefront of Nokia's push to deliver compelling, interactive entertainment that gives consumers the opportunity to connect with each other to discover and share a wide range of media. A sought-after industry commentator, author and speaker, Ojanperä has played a defining role in driving Nokia's evolution since joining the company in 1990. Ojanperä has held a number of senior roles at Nokia including chief technology officer and chief strategy officer, as well as head of the Nokia Research Center. He also has been a member of the Nokia Group executive board since 2005. He has a Master of Science degree from the University of Oulu in Finland, and a Ph.D. from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
ELI has three main components: an essay competition, the GRAMMY Week ELI Luncheon featuring a prominent keynote speaker, and a legal seminar series. The ELI essay competition invites law students to write a 3,000-word paper on a compelling legal topic facing the music industry today. Past award-winning topics have featured issues germane and timely to the music industry including bootlegging, music sampling and litigation against peer-to-peer network users.
The contest culminates with the winning student authors discussing their essays in a question-and-answer presentation at the prestigious ELI Luncheon. Past luncheon keynote speakers have included Edgar Bronfman Jr., chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group; Clive Davis, chief creative officer of BMG North America; Timothy J. Leiweke, president and CEO of AEG; and Strauss Zelnick, former president and CEO of BMG Entertainment among others.
This year, for the first time in program history, the Foundation has added ELI essay competition workshops at prominent law schools around the country with the goal of helping students with their essays. Also for the first time, ELI has partnered with Box.net to allow students to upload their submissions directly over the Internet. Box.net's mission is to provide the best tools to enable people around the world to share and exchange information and content.
The 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held Feb. 8 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, and will be broadcast live in high-definition TV and 5.1 Surround Sound on the CBS Television Network at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). The show also will be supported on radio via Westwood One worldwide. The GRAMMY Pre-Telecast will be streamed live on GRAMMY.com on Feb. 8 at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT.