OT-ASCAP?

[miker]

As a (mostly) unpaid copyist, it means nothing to me. However, a composer friend is considering joining ASCAP.

He asks, what are the benefits of being a member, other than the initials after your name?

Comments? Suggestions?

[RMK]

Royalties (if your music is performed in public). I have a client that receives several hundred dollars for each performance of a large symphonic work.

I have another client whose work was performed on an NPR series and he received royalties for each time it was aired (he belongs to BMI, though - your friend ought to check out both).

[MikeHalloran]

Since 1914, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) collects and distributes the public performance royalties for our members' copyrighted music plus the USA performances of 100+ affiliated societies worldwide. Currently, we are over 645,000 members. We're the only PRO (performing rights organization) in the US owned and governed by our membership and organized as a not for profit society for the benefit of our members.

ASCAP has Member Services in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles. Have your friend call one of our offices and have Membership send the information he/she needs.

http://www.ascap.com

We are not the only one. BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) is owned by the broadcasters but run as a non-profit corp. Two very small for-profit PROs are GMR (Global Rights Management) and SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and Composers)—unlike ASCAP and BMI, membership to those two is invitation only.


Hmmm... I just found out that we're over 645,000 members and their estates. BMI usually has a slightly larger membership but we take in more money for our members. The annual reports for both are online.