WASHINGTON, April 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SoundExchange today announced the hire of Marie Knowles as vice president of communications. In this role, she will lead the organization's strategic communications, including public relations, media relations and internal employee communications strategy.

Marie has more than a decade of communications experience in creating and implementing strategic brand-building programs for both public companies and nonprofit organizations across a number of industries, including entertainment and technology. 

"I'm pleased to have Marie Knowles join us as our new vice president of communications. She brings a broad set of public relations skills and extensive corporate reputation-building experience to our team," said SoundExchange President Michael Huppe. "SoundExchange has grown from a fledgling company to the thriving organization we are today in a very short time. It's important that we now have dedicated resources in place that enable us to clearly communicate our message as we move into our next chapter."

Marie's career includes having served in the corporate communications department at a major media company, where she was responsible for overseeing the implementation of national and local campaigns earning press coverage in top consumer, music, automotive and business press. She was also instrumental in assisting with several successful high-profile public relations initiatives while at the organization.  

In the past, Marie has implemented corporate and consumer communications campaigns for global organizations, such as Rosetta Stone and Iridium. While at DBC Public Relations Experts, Marie specialized in media relations for clients including: Blackboard, New Media Strategies and Ruckus Entertainment Network. Marie began her career at Alexander Ogilvy, the Technology Practice of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, where her first project was assisting with the launch of Black Entertainment Television's website. Marie is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.

About SoundExchange
SoundExchange is the non-profit performance rights organization that represents the entire recorded music industry.  The organization collects statutory royalties from satellite radio, internet radio, cable TV music channels and other services that stream sound recordings. The Copyright Royalty Board, created by Congress, has entrusted SoundExchange as the only entity in the United States to collect and distribute these digital performance royalties for featured recording artists and master rights owners. SoundExchange has paid out more than $900 million in royalties since its inception. For more information, visit www.SoundExchange.com or www.facebook.com/soundexchange.

SOURCE SoundExchange