US collecting society ASCAP has been explaining to its members why its next set of royalty distributions will be delayed, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, president Paul Williams alerted […]
Tag: ASCAP
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ASCAP launches podcast focusing on music creators
US collecting society ASCAP is getting into the podcasts game. Its first show is called ‘Versed: The ASCAP Podcast’ and will focus on interviews with musicians. Its own chairman and […]
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New execs for UMPG Nashville, Spotify and ASCAP
The executive chairs are whirling in the US this week, with three new job moves from prominent industry figures. Sony/ATV Nashville’s president and CEO Troy Tomlinson is on the move […]
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ASCAP distributions grew by 10% in 2018 to $1.11bn
The latest collecting society to announced impressive numbers for 2018 is ASCAP in the US. Its total revenues grew by 7% to $1.23bn last year, while its distributions grew by […]
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BMI and ASCAP publish thoughts on replacing US consent decrees
We reported earlier this week on moves afoot in the US to modernise / replace the longstanding ‘consent decrees’ governing licensing in the US. Now collecting societies BMI and ASCAP […]
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US could overhaul its music-licensing rules for publishing
Even as the row over Spotify’s publishing licensing in India rages, so attention is switching back to the US, where the Department of Justice is mulling a shakeup of the […]
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US music bodies welcome progress of Music Modernization Act
The US Music Modernization Act (MMA) has taken its next step towards becoming law, with a unanimous vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee to approve it.
Not without changes, however: the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) noted that the bill now includes “increased oversight and ensure greater transparency in the operation of the Mechanical Licensing Collective” that’s being set up, as well as clauses to “promote communication between the Department of Justice and Congress regarding any future changes to the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees”.
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RIAA and NMPA working on their own song-database project
One of the big challenges in any project to build a comprehensive database of music rights is the many cooks involved in such a recipe. Infighting, competition and mutual suspicion aren’t a smooth path to solving this particular industry problem.
So you’ll be delighted to hear that the latest efforts in the US to build such a database are already sinking into recriminations.
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ASCAP / BMI database plans are already sparking a row
ASCAP and BMI are fielding criticism for not including other US performing rights organisations (PROs) in their partnership to create a new database of song rights.
Sesac and Global Music Rights are both currently not involved in the project, and that has drawn a cross response from member of the US House of Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner, who has been playing a prominent role in American politicians’ latest drive to regulate music-industry licensing practices.
“Despite claims from BMI and ASCAP that they have been working on this joint database for the past year, they have made no effort to cooperate with Members of Congress on the issue,” said Sensenbrenner in a statement.
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ASCAP and BMI to work on joint musical-works database
The latest initiative to tackle the music industry’s metadata problems is a collaboration between American PROs ASCAP and BMI.
Focused on the US – put away those ‘Global Repertoire Database’ comparisons now please – it aims to launch by the end of 2018, and will aggregate song-ownership data from the two organisations.
In fact, they’ve been working on the project for a year already, meaning that by the time it launches, the database will have been nearly two and a half years in the making. That’s a hint at the efforts involved to detect and correct incomplete registrations and figure out ownership and splits disputes.
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ASCAP says YouTube deal will boost its video payouts
When YouTube appointed Lyor Cohen as its head of music – and again recently when it poached SoundCloud content boss Stephen Bryan – there were cautious hopes expressed within the music industry that Google’s video service is showing signs of genuine motivation to improve its standing with rightsholders.
Although of course, this has not dented the industry’s lobbying efforts on safe harbour and the ‘value gap’ between YouTube music consumption and its payouts.
Now YouTube-watchers have something else to pore over: a new licensing agreement announced yesterday with American collecting society ASCAP.
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ASCAP, SACEM and PRS for Music launch joint blockchain project
Music collecting societies ASCAP, SACEM and PRS for Music are teaming up for an ambitious partnership based on blockchain technology.
The societies said the project will “prototype a new shared system of managing authoritative music copyright information using blockchain technology”.
That will include a new system for matching music recordings with song compositions – via ISRCs and ISWCs respectively in terms of codes – in an effort to solve the music-streaming world’s headaches matching label and publishing data.