American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
Non-profit performance-rights organization
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadcasters, and digital streaming services (music stores). ASCAP collects licensing fees from users of music created by ASCAP members, then distributes them back to its members as royalties. In effect, the arrangement is the product of a compromise: when a song is played, the user does not have to pay the copyright holder directly, nor does the music creator have to bill a radio station for use of a song. In 2024, ASCAP collected approximately US$1.84 billion in revenue, distributed approximately US$1.7 billion in royalties to rightsholders, and maintained a registry of approximately 20 million works. The organization had approximately 1 million members as of 2024. ASCAP has drawn negative attention for attempting to enforce licensing fees when songs are...
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