ASCAP
Page: 3
The ASCAP Foundation has launched the new “In Her Voice” scholarship which will provide funds to female-identifying music makers who are trying to break into the songwriting field. “In Her Voice” Scholarship will be granted to two undergraduate or graduate students who are female-identifying and are ASCAP members or have not affiliated with any other performing rights […]
Lil Baby was named songwriter of the year at the 2024 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards. The rapper accepted his award on Thursday (June 27) at an invitation-only event in Los Angeles.
Three songs that Lil Baby (credited as Dominque “Lil Baby” Jones) co-wrote were among ASCAP’s most performed songs of the year – “Forever” and “Heyy,” both from his third studio album It’s Only Me – and “Freestyle,” from his 2017 mixtape Too Hard.
It’s Only Me reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top Rap Albums charts.
Trending on Billboard
“Snooze,” performed by SZA, was named ASCAP’s R&B/hip-hop and rap song of the year. Co-written by Leon Thomas and published by Eclectic Collective Publishing and Sony Music Publishing, the song topped Billboard’s R&B Songs chart for 32 weeks. “Snooze” also reached No. 2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts and won a Grammy for best R&B song.
Warner Chappell Music was named ASCAP Rhythm & Soul publisher of the year for songs including “Calm Down” (Rema & Selena Gomez), “Fukumean” (Gunna), “Good Good” (Usher), “Hotel Lobby” (Quavo & Takeoff), “Rich Baby Daddy” (Drake), “Spin Bout U” and “Rich Flex” (21 Savage & Drake), “What It Is” (Doechii featuring Kodak Black) and “Praise God” (Kanye West, Travis Scott & Baby Keem).
Additional 2024 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul award-winning songwriters include 21 Savage (“Good Good,” “Spin Bout U,” “Peaches & Eggplants,” “Rich Flex”), Lil Uzi Vert (“Just Wanna Rock”), Summer Walker (“Good Good,” “Karma”), Coco Jones (“ICU”), Smokie Norful (“I Still Have You”) and Tye Tribbett (“New”).
ASCAP gospel song of the year went to “Goodness of God” (CeCe Winans), co-written by Brian Mark Johnson and Jennifer Louise Johnson and published by Bethel Music Publishing. The song was a fixture on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart for 78 weeks, longer than any of Winans’ other hits, peaking at No. 2.
The ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards recognize the songwriters and publishers of the most-performed songs of the past year based on Luminate data for terrestrial and satellite radio and streaming services, as specified by ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards rules.
As previously announced, Usher received the ASCAP Voice of the Culture Award for his influence on music and culture. Jermaine Dupri, who received three Grammy nominations for his songwriting and production work with Usher, presented the award. (Usher also received most performed song awards for “Glu” and “Good Good.”)
Victoria Monét received the ASCAP Vanguard Award for her “innovative work that is helping to shape the future of music.” ASCAP chairman of the board and president Paul Williams and ASCAP SVP of membership Nicole George-Middleton presented the award. Monét also received a most-performed song award for “On My Mama,” which was a 2024 Grammy nominee for record of the year.
A full list of 2024 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Award winners is available at https://www.ascap.com/rsawards24.
Rema, Steve Mac, Lostboy and Daniel Pemberton are among the top winners at ASCAP London Celebrates, a private event that is being held on Tuesday (June 18) at The Shard in London.
British songwriter and producer Peter Rycroft, aka Lostboy, captures four ASCAP awards, including songwriter of the year. 2023 was a big year for Lostboy, which saw him co-write a string of hits including Tate McRae and Tiësto’s “10:35,” Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding’s “Miracle” (co-written by fellow winner Pablo Bowman Navarro), which spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Official UK Singles Chart; and Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam,” which earned him a Grammy for best pop dance recording. Each song earned him an ASCAP award in the hot dance/electronic song category.
Trending on Billboard
Continuing a breakout year which has seen him release his fourth EP and perform “Calm Down” (a nominee for best international song) at the BRIT Awards, Rema is honored with two ASCAP awards – song of the year and top streaming song, also for “Calm Down.” Co-writers Michael “London” Hunter and Andre Vibez were also winners. “Calm Down,” a collab with Selena Gomez, reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Producer, songwriter and musician Steve Mac wins top hot dance/electronic song for his work on “Baby Don’t Hurt Me,” a collaboration by Anne-Marie, David Guetta and Coi Leray.
Eddie Jenkins, Andy Sheldrake, Camden Cox and Hayla receive a hot dance/electronic song prize for “Where You Are” by John Summit & Hayla.
In the world of TV, film and streaming, Daniel Pemberton lands top box office film of the year for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Pemberton’s score, which was shortlisted for an Oscar for best original score, draws on disparate strains of music, including punk rock, electronic music and traditional Indian instruments.
Julian Gingell and Barry Stone receive the top network series award for the second year in a row for their theme to American Idol.
2024’s top box office film awards go to composers Martin Phipps, for Napoleon, Patrick Jonsson for The Boogeyman and Joby Talbot for Wonka.
Paul Leonard-Morgan receives the prize for top streaming film for real-life crime thriller The Boston Strangler. Awards for top streaming series go to Anne Nikitin and Wil Malone for Apple TV’s Hijack, Natalie Holt for Loki and Andrew Skeet and Nathan Klein for Netflix docuseries MH370: The Plane That Disappeared.
As previously announced, South Africa-born British singer-songwriter and producer Kenya Grace receives the ASCAP Global Impact Award, in recognition of her success in the dance music world. Irish indie-pop singer-songwriter Cian Ducrot takes home the ASCAP Vanguard Award, which recognizes artists whose innovative work is helping to shape the future of music.
This year’s winners join a string of previous UK-affiliated ASCAP award recipients including Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, MNEK, Lewis Capaldi, Dev Hynes and Becky Hill.
ASCAP’s private event on Tuesday night for its winning songwriters and composers is set to include a brief performance from rising R&B/soul star Elmiene. The event is designed to shine a light on ASCAP’s UK-affiliated talent for their success in the U.S.
A full list of ASCAP London Music Award winners is available at https://www.ascap.com/londonawards24.
Singer-songwriters Kenya Grace and Cian Ducrot will be honored at ASCAP London Celebrates, an invitation-only celebration of top U.K.-affiliated songwriters and composers taking place in London on June 18. Grace, a British singer-songwriter and producer, who was born in South Africa, will receive the ASCAP Global Impact Award. Grace is best known for her 2023 […]
ASCAP will honor Usher and Victoria Monét at a party in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 27 where they celebrate their top rhythm and soul music songwriters and publishers. Usher will receive the ASCAP Voice of the Culture Award; Monét, the ASCAP Vanguard Award.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The Voice of the Culture Award is presented to ASCAP members who have had a major influence on music and culture. The honor recognizes their success both as creators and changemakers. Timbaland, Swizz Beatz and D-Nice were the latest artists to receive the award in 2021.
The Vanguard Award is presented in recognition of ASCAP members whose innovative work is helping to shape the future of music. Migos, Janelle Monáe and Beastie Boys are past recipients of the award.
Trending on Billboard
“Usher has owned the R&B crown for decades, captivating listeners with his incomparable vocal chops and songs that span the R&B and pop genres,” Paul Williams, ASCAP chairman of the board and president, said in a statement. “His charisma and performances are unmatched in the R&B world and his humanitarian impact is just as undeniable.”
“Victoria Monét has proven herself not only as an illuminating songwriter, but also as a flourishing artist and ASCAP member who continues to break barriers,” continued Williams. “Her resilience, talent, and exemplary work ethic have helped her become a multi-award-winning singer and songwriter.”
Usher, who is celebrating 30 years as an entertainer, is an eight-time Grammy winner, including two wins for best contemporary R&B album. He has amassed nine No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200. On Feb. 11, he headlined the Super Bowl halftime show, which became the most-watched in history. Two days before that high-profile gig, Usher released his ninth studio album, Coming Home, which entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2. “Good Good,” his hit collab with Summer Walker and 21 Savage, made the top 25 on the Hot 100 and was a fixture on the chart for more than six months.
Monét received seven 2024 Grammy nominations, a total topped only by SZA, with nine. She won three Grammys on Feb. 4 – best new artist, best R&B album for Jaguar II and best engineered album, non-classical, for that same album. “On My Mama,” a Grammy nominee for record of the year, made the top 40 on the Hot 100. On March 6, Monét received the Rising Star Award at the Billboard Women in Music Awards.
Both artists were major winners at the NAACP Image Awards on March 16. Monét won outstanding album and outstanding new artist. Usher took outstanding male artist. Both artists are also top nominees at the upcoming BET Awards, will air live from Los Angeles on June 30. Monét has five nods; Usher has four. In addition, Usher will receive a lifetime achievement award on the BET Awards, it was announced on Thursday (May 30).
Jon Batiste, Daniel Pemberton and Siddhartha Khosla are among the winners of the 2024 ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards. The kudos were presented as part of the 2024 ASCAP Screen Music Awards at an invitation-only event in Los Angeles on Thursday (May 9).
Here are this year’s recipients of the ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards, which are chosen by the ASCAP composer and songwriter community:
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Film score of the year: Daniel Pemberton, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Trending on Billboard
Television score of the year: David Fleming, The Last of Us
Television theme of the year: Siddhartha Khosla, Only Murders in the Building
Documentary score of the year: Jon Batiste, American Symphony
Video game score of the year: Gordy Haab, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and American Symphony were both shortlisted for Oscars for best original score, though neither wound up with a nomination. Batiste was Oscar-nominated for co-writing a song from American Symphony – “It Never Went Away,” which he co-wrote with Dan Wilson.
Khosla received two Primetime Emmy nods in 2022 for his work on Only Murders in the Building – outstanding music composition for a series (original dramatic score) and outstanding original main title theme music – but none this past year. Fleming has yet to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy.
In addition, the ASCAP Screen Music Awards recognize top composers of the past year’s hit streaming series and films. The top-rated streaming series winners include Robert Duncan for The Night Agent, Natalie Holt for Loki, Bear McCreary for the streaming remake of book series Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for the dramedy Unprisoned.
Among the top-rated streaming films winners, Germaine Franco is honored for her score for action-thriller The Mother, Marcus Miller for the holiday comedy Candy Cane Lane, and Lorne Balfe for both historical thriller Tetris and action-romance Ghosted.
In other categories, Pemberton takes home top box office film of the year for his score to the blockbuster animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and David Vanacore is named the top most performed themes and underscore winner for his work on such shows as Survivor, The Kardashians and The Daily Show.
Composers Matthew Hawkins, the late Maurice “m.0.” Jackson and the late Neil Martin (collectively known as Numeriklab) win top network television series for their main theme for NCIS, while John Sereda is recognized with top cable television series for the historical drama When Calls the Heart.
The complete list of winners is available on the ASCAP website: www.ascap.com/screenawards24.
Olivia Rodrigo and co-writer Daniel Nigro are the 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Songwriters of the Year. It is the second award in the top category for Rodrigo, who first received the honor in 2022.
Chappell Roan, who has a fast-climbing hit with “Good Luck, Babe!,” which she co-wrote with Nigro and Justin Tranter, was scheduled to present Nigro with his award on Wednesday (May 8) at an invitation-only event in Los Angeles celebrating this year’s ASCAP Pop Music Award winners.
Rodrigo and Nigro have shared two Grammy nods for song of the year (for “Driver’s License” and “Vampire”) and one for best rock song (for “Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl”). In less than three and a half years, Rodrigo has amassed 17 top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including three songs – “Driver’s License,” “Good 4 U” and “Vampire” – that entered the chart at No. 1.
Trending on Billboard
“Calm Down,” performed by Rema and featuring Selena Gomez, wins ASCAP Pop Song of the Year. Co-written by Rema, Gomez, Michael “LONDON” Hunter, Amanda “Kiddo AI” Ibanez and Andre Vibez, the song reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 and rode the chart for 57 weeks. “Calm Down” is published by Hook Like Behavior, Kobalt Music Publishing, Livelihood Music Company, SMG Tunes, Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner Chappell Music.
Publisher of the Year goes to Universal Music Publishing Group for songs including “Calm Down,” “Cuff It” (Beyoncé), “Dance the Night” (Dua Lipa), “Barbie World” (Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice with Aqua), “Lavender Haze” (Taylor Swift), “Paint the Town Red” (Doja Cat), “Star Walkin’ (League of Legends Worlds Anthem)” (Lil Nas X) and “Sure Thing” (Miguel).
Other 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Award-winning songwriters include Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff (their holiday evergreen “All I Want for Christmas Is You”), Noah Kahan (“Dial Drunk”), St. Vincent (“Cruel Summer”), Meghan Trainor (“Made You Look”) and Leon Thomas (“Snooze”).
As previously announced, Charli XCX received the ASCAP Global Impact Award. Charli is gearing up for the release of her sixth solo album, BRAT on June 7 and a North American tour with Troye Sivan, who was set to present her with the award.
The ASCAP Pop Music Awards honor the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP’s most-performed pop songs of 2023. The winners are determined by data on terrestrial and satellite radio and for programmed and on-demand audio streams, all provided by Luminate Data LLC.
More information on the 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Award winners is available here.
ASCAP collections grew 14.1% to $1.737 billion in 2023 and payouts to songwriters and publishers increased 14.7% to $1.592 billion, the performance rights organization reported Wednesday (Feb. 28). Those figures represent a record year for ASCAP in both revenue buckets, as well as all-time highs for any U.S. performance rights organization ever, ASCAP claimed.
The last time BMI revealed its annual financials — for the year ended June 30, 2022 — the PRO reported collections of $1.573 billion and pay outs of $1.471 billion. BMI did not disclose any full-year financial information in its most recent annual report for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, and is not likely to disclose any financial information going forward, since it’s now owned by institutional investor New Mountain Capital and will be operating on a for-profit basis. ASCAP now stands as the only U.S. PRO operating on a not-for-profit basis.
ASCAP’s collections break down to $1.327 billion domestically (up 12.7% from the year prior), and $410 million internationally (up 19.2%). For distributions, ASCAP paid out $1.217 billion domestically (up 16.1%), and $375 million internationally (up 10.3%).
Trending on Billboard
“ASCAP’s mission and not-for-profit business model are more important now than ever before, as artificial intelligence transforms the music landscape, and the need for legislative advocacy to protect creators in DC has never been more important,” ASCAP chairman and president Paul Williams said in a statement. “ASCAP will always be a champion for the humans who create music and demand transparency and fair payment from those who exploit our work. ASCAP makes it possible for our songwriter and composer members to write the next song, to earn a living and to support their families. No one else in the industry has the backs of songwriters like ASCAP.”
In announcing its financial results, the organization pointed out that unlike its competitors, ASCAP has no debt, no shareholders, no private owners and no private equity investors. In other words, ASCAP’s music creator and publisher members are the sole beneficiaries of ASCAP’s financial success.
Moreover, it noted that a democratically elected Board of Directors composed of music publishers and music creators sets the royalty distribution rules and cost allocations based on follow-the-dollar principles. It is the only U.S. PRO that makes those distribution rules publicly available on its website providing transparency to its membership.
“We are delivering industry-leading technical innovation, legislative advocacy and revenue growth that solely benefits our members, not outside investors or shareholders,” ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said in a statement. “As we like to say, private equity never wrote an iconic love song which is why we fight purely for songwriters, composers and publishers, not for those who use creators and their works of art for their own profits or to secure their own debt. ASCAP differs from others because our mission and purpose is clear and unique.”
In looking at new technology, the PRO reported that in 2023 its board of directors adopted six principles to guide its response to the technology and later submitted them on behalf of members to a U.S. Copyright Office study on generative artificial intelligence. And it reported it had held some AI symposiums for members.
During the year, ASCAP membership grew by 66,000 new members bringing total membership to 960,000 members. Some of those new members included PinkPantheress, Jack Antonoff, Tyla, and Jared Leto and Shannon Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars, as well as art-pop singer-songwriter Caroline Polachek, alt-rocker d4vd, jazz vocalist Samara Joy, country genre bender Jessie Murph, dark balladeer Chappell Roan, post-punker ThxSoMuch and writer-producer Alexander 23, among others
Moreover, the organization says its song catalog now includes 19 million copyrights that consists of music from the likes of Beyoncé, Billy Joel, Cardi B, Dua Lipa, Garth Brooks, Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Lil Baby, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mariah Carey, Olivia Rodrigo, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Usher, among others.
Getting back to the financial numbers, ASCAP notes that since the launch of its strategic growth plan in 2015, its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for total revenue through 2023 has increased to 7%, and the CAGR for total distributions over the same time period rose to 8%.
Moreover, ASCAP reported that in 2023, audio streaming revenue rose 21%, general licensing revenue rose 23%, radio revenue rose 10% and audio-visual revenue rose 3% as compared to 2022. However, ASCAP didn’t break out the specific revenue numbers like it used to in the years preceding 2015, the last year that ASCAP provided extensive insight into its financials.
As a percentage of revenue, overall ASCAP paid out 91.7% of collections in 2023, which implies expenses accounting for 8.3% of revenue. Yet, ASCAP executives also say the organization’s pays out nearly 90% of collections, which means overhead amounts to a little bit more than 10% of revenue.
In any event, ASCAP claims its 90 cents payouts on every dollar of collections yield “the highest value exchange applied to the lowest overhead rate provided to creators and publishers of any U.S. PRO.”
For years, ASCAP and BMI were seen as the Coke and Pepsi of the performing rights management business — two giant entities with complicated formulas that seemed the same from a distance but quite different if you examined them closer. The November agreement to sell BMI to a group of investors led by New Mountain Capital, which was completed Feb. 8., has changed that — and the songwriters for whom they compete have already seen it in the marketing. BMI is making the case that a for-profit model will let it invest more aggressively in technology, among other things, while ASCAP pointed out on social media that “private equity never wrote an iconic love song.” The Pepsi Challenge seems quaint by comparison.
There were always differences between the two — ASCAP is governed by members, BMI was owned by its licensees; ASCAP charged a onetime $50 fee to join, while BMI was free, though that changed and now ASCAP is free to join and BMI charges $75. And although it’s hard to know for certain, this could end up being more of an evolution than a revolution: Nonprofits invest in technology and operations all the time, although it can be tricky, and the music business wasn’t exactly unsullied by greed before the days of private equity.
BMI and ASCAP collect and distribute more money than any other rights organizations in the world, though. So any changes in the way BMI operates — let alone whatever changes ASCAP makes in response — will reverberate through the entire competitive ecosystem to their less regulated U.S. rivals SESAC and GMR (which invite only the songwriters they want to join); to performing rights societies around the world; and ultimately to everyone who writes, owns or publishes songs.
New Mountain Capital wants a return on its investment, so BMI will need to make a profit — plus grow. Some of this will presumably come from higher-margin new businesses, including international venture — think cooperations or partnerships with societies in India, Africa or the Middle East. (BMI and ASCAP are subject to consent decrees that limit what other businesses they could get into in the U.S.) There’s already some competition in some of those places from European organizations, though.
Presumably, some of the profit is going to have to come from BMI’s traditional U.S. performing rights operations — and that won’t be easy, according to about a dozen rights organization and music publishing executives I spoke with for this column. (None has any inside knowledge about BMI’s plans.) Essentially, BMI will need to hold back enough of the money it collects to both cover its operating costs and make a profit on top of that, while paying its songwriters and publishers more than they can get from its rivals.
BMI has said a bit about how it plans to do that. In an Oct. 12 letter to “BMI affiliates and industry partners,” CEO Mike O’Neil said that for the next three years, BMI’s goal would be to retain 15% of its licensing revenue, as opposed to “around 10%,” although it would take a higher margin on “incremental growth we create for the company,” including acquisitions and new services. To make sure that additional 5% doesn’t come at the expense of songwriter and publisher royalties, BMI will need to negotiate deals that are significantly better than ASCAP’s on a consistent basis.
The only way to do that is to have the most in-demand repertoire from top songwriters like Taylor Swift, probably BMI’s biggest songwriter— and getting and retaining it may require offering better terms to top writers. That would almost presumably involve attractive advances (which all four U.S. performing rights organizations sometimes offer) and some form of bonus structure for top performers (which ASCAP and BMI offer, although their methodology differs). BMI said that advances have always been part of its strategy and it has no plans to change its general approach to this or its bonus structure, or its distribution policies. But what if BMI’s rivals also offer higher advances and better bonuses? If getting the best deal terms means having the best repertoire, they have every reason to do so.
The question is how those writers will be rewarded for the leverage they provide, and if Swift’s popularity helps her fellow songwriters, it’s only fair that she should benefit. But this can also create a temptation to pay out even more to the most successful writers — to give a bit more to Peter and a bit less to Paul and Mary. It’s good for everyone — until at some point it starts to feel unfair. And everyone who writes songs or manages those who do is either deeply concerned about this issue or simply eager to make sure they end up on the right side of it. Competition is all well and good, and it will be interesting to see which creators look for better deals and which stick with their current rights organization. (It can be harder than it should be to switch in some cases, which will be the subject of another column.) Ultimately, though, all these creators may find themselves fighting for bigger slices of the same pie.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) argued that AI companies need to license material from copyright owners to train their models and that “a new federal right of publicity… is necessary to address the unprecedented scale on which AI tools facilitate the improper use of a creator’s image, likeness, and voice” in a document filed to the Copyright Office on Wednesday (Dec. 6).
The Copyright Office announced that it was studying “the copyright issues raised by generative artificial intelligence” in August and solicited written comments from relevant players in the space. Initial written comments had to be submitted by October 30, while reply comments — which give organizations like ASCAP the chance to push back against assertions made by AI companies like Anthropic and Open AI — were due December 6.
Generative AI models require training: They ingest large amounts of data to identify patterns. “AI training is a computational process of deconstructing existing works for the purpose of modeling mathematically how [they] work,” Google wrote in its reply comments for the Copyright Office. “By taking existing works apart, the algorithm develops a capacity to infer how new ones should be put together” — hence the “generative” part of this.
ASCAP represents songwriters, composers, and music publishers, and its chief concern is that AI companies will be allowed to train models on its members’ works without coming to some sort of licensing arrangement ahead of time. “Numerous comments from AI industry members raise doubts about the technical or economic feasibility of licensing as a model for the authorized use of protected content,” ASCAP writes. “But armchair speculations about the efficiency of licensing do not justify a rampant disregard for creators’ rights.”
ASCAP adds that “numerous large-scale AI tools have already been developed exclusively on the basis of fully licensed or otherwise legally obtained materials” — pointing to Boomy, Stable Audio, Generative AI by Getty Images, and Adobe Firefly — “demonstrating that the development of generative AI technologies need not come at the expense of creators’ rights.”
ASCAP also calls for the implementation of a new federal right-of-publicity law, worried that voice-cloning technology, for example, can threaten artists’ livelihood. “Generative AI technology introduces unprecedented possibilities for the unauthorized use of a creator’s image, likeness, and voice,” ASCAP argues. “The existing patchwork of state laws were not written with this technology in view, and do not adequately protect creators.”
“Without allowing the artists and creators to control their voice and likeness,” ASCAP continues, “this technology will create both consumer confusion and serious financial harm to the original music creators.”