ASCAP
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Reps. Ted W. Lieu (D-CA) and Ben Cline (R-VA) have joined together to re-launch and co-chair the bipartisan Congressional Songwriters Caucus to focus on advancing policies that support independent songwriters and strengthen copyright protections.
The new caucus has support from the Recording Academy, Nashville Songwriters Association International, BMI, ASCAP and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), according to a press release. No specific names of independent songwriters were included in the release, and a representative for Lieu has not responded to Billboard’s requests for more information.
The caucus was originally formed in 2003 by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) when she served as a House representative for Tennessee. According to her website, part of her focus at the time was cracking down on China’s intellectual property theft and how that affected songwriters and other creatives.
The interests of musicians is also represented in Congress with the Recording Arts and Sciences Congressional Caucus, which was established in 2005 and continues today, helmed by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and new Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Hailing from Southern California, Rep. Lieu says he understands first hand how “talented songwriters… contribute to so much of our culture and society. I’m thrilled to join Congressman Cline in co-chairing the new bipartisan Congressional Songwriter’s Caucus, which will work to support America’s brilliant songwriters by ensuring they can protect their work and make a living doing what they love. Music contributes so much to our way of life, and we must ensure those creating it are compensated fairly. I’m grateful to the numerous songwriter advocacy organizations who’ve partnered with us on the creation of this caucus and look forward to working together to support our artists.”
“Making art, specifically music, is a powerful way to leave a mark on the world,” says Rep. Cline. “It’s a part of our everyday lives, from what we listen to on our commutes in the morning, to the music we select for our most important life events, such as birthdays, weddings, and funerals. But today’s modern music landscape can make it more difficult for certain artists, especially independent songwriters, to make a living. That is why I’m proud to co-chair the Congressional Songwriters Caucus, which will play an important role in promoting the songwriting community by working to ensure the creative rights of songwriters are protected.”
“It All Begins With A Song,” says Bart Herbison, executive director of NSAI. “the entire music ecosystem. Since the Songwriters Caucus was initially launched 20 years ago, technology has completely changed the way music is delivered. American songwriters still face challenges in the digital era and we are very grateful to Congressmen Cline and Lieu for their bipartisan support.”
“On behalf of our over one million affiliates, I’d like to thank Representatives Cline and Lieu for co-chairing the Congressional Songwriters Caucus. Both have always been champions for creators, and we are in excellent hands with them leading the charge for songwriters and composers on the Hill. We stand ready to work with them to ensure creators are supported by strong copyright law and that they are fairly compensated for their work,” adds Mike O’Neill, president and CEO of BMI.
“Songwriters are the foundation of America’s vibrant music industry, and we appreciate Representatives Cline and Lieu recognizing the importance of ensuring we have champions in Congress. As technology transforms the music landscape, ASCAP looks forward to engaging with members of the Congressional Songwriters’ Caucus to protect the rights of American music creators and defend the value of their hard work and creativity,” says Paul Williams, president of ASCAP.
“We applaud Representatives Cline and Lieu for leading the Congressional Songwriters Caucus and we are excited about today’s launch. NMPA is the leading advocate for music publishers and their songwriter partners and we greatly look forward to working with the Caucus to advance policy interests that will protect creators and ensure that songwriters thrive,” says NMPA president and CEO David Israelite.
“The Recording Academy is proud to support the re-launch of the Congressional Songwriters Caucus which helps connect songwriters and composers with lawmakers to ensure that their unique interests are heard and understood. We are grateful to the new Caucus Co-Chairs, Representatives Ben Cline and Ted Lieu, for their support and leadership and we look forward to working with stakeholders across the songwriter community to advance the Caucus forward,” says Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.
Dr. Dre, the trailblazing hip-hop hitmaker, will blaze a new trail at the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, where he will receive the very first ASCAP Hip-Hop Icon Award.
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Announced today (June 20), Dre will be honored at the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards Celebration of 50 Years of Hip-Hop, set to take place in his hometown, Los Angeles on Thursday, June 22.
“Dr. Dre’s groundbreaking early work laid a foundation for hip-hop as we know it today. As a champion for some of today’s biggest artists and a successful entrepreneur, he changed the culture around hip-hop,” comments ASCAP chairman of the board and president Paul Williams.
The award is presented to ASCAP members whose musical contributions have made an indelible impact on the art and culture of hip-hop. Currently, ASCAP’s membership includes 920,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers.
Dre “continues to be a pivotal figure in the music industry,” adds Williams, “and we are thrilled to recognize him with the inaugural ASCAP Hip-Hop Icon Award as we mark 50 years of hip-hop.”
In the electrifying world of hip-hop, which this year celebrates its half-century and is now recognized as the U.S. market share leader, Dre has done it all.
A founding member of Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees N.W.A, Dre is recognized as one of the genre’s pre-eminent producers, as well as a rapper and songwriter who has worked with some of the most iconic R&B and hip-hop artists of all time, including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 2Pac, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lamar.
After changing the game with seminal gangsta rap outfit N.W.A in the 1980s, Dre released his first solo album, The Chronic, in 1992, a classic that’s regarded as one of hip-hop’s finest and a beacon for the West Coast G-Funk movement.
His three studio albums, which include 2001 and Compton, have amassed some 20 million album consumption units.
Dre also established Aftermath Entertainment, his own imprint through Interscope, through which he would sign Eminem, 50 Cent, Lamar and Anderson .Paak, among others.
In 2006, Dre co-founded Beats Electronics alongside Interscope co-founder Jimmy Iovine. Later, in 2014, the business evolved with a streaming service, Beats Audio, and was subsequently acquired by Apple for upwards of $3 billion, turning Dre into hip-hop’s first billionaire.
N.W.A was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2016, a year after the Straight Outta Compton biopic hit theaters around the globe. In February 2022, another career highlight when Dre teamed up with Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent for the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show.
Grammy Award-winner DJ Kid Capri will provide the music on ASCAP’s big night, organizers say. Visit ASCAP for more.
ASCAP has announced a number of new initiatives designed to help its members protect their copyrights and plan for the future of artificial intelligence.
The events start later this month, on June 21, with The ASCAP Experience, the performing rights’ organization’s annual event. As part of its full day of programming, ASCAP will include the panel Intelligently Navigating Artificial Intelligence, created to act as a state of the union for music AI, covering both how the technology could change music creation and consumption and how ASCAP is working to address these changes. Panelists include Lucas Cantor (composer, ASCAP Member), Rachel Lyske (CEO of DAACI) and Nicholas Lehman (Chief strategy and digital officer, ASCAP).
On July 19, ASCAP will host a half-day AI Symposium in New York City to dive even deeper into challenges and opportunities. Details of the event’s speakers will be announced soon.
In addition to the summer’s educational initiatives, the PRO is continuing ASCAP Lab Challenge, a fund started in 2019 to power innovation in music. In the past, ASCAP Lab has run an accelerator program in partnership with the NYC Media Lab, led by the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, exploring new technologies such as the metaverse, augmented reality, spatial audio and computer vision and helping to incubate more than a dozen startups and university research projects.
This year, ASCAP Lab Challenge is focusing on AI, funding five startups that are looking to change the music industry in a positive way. As part of its investment, ASCAP will work alongside these recipients for 12 weeks to guide the development of their products and ensure they can benefit music creators.
Included in the 2023 Lab Challenge class is DAACI, a generative AI model that composes and arranges scores, particularly for video games and virtual reality; Infinite Album, a generative AI company that creates copyright-safe video game music that can react to game play in real time; Overture Games, a company which creates video games designed to encourage musicians to practice and avoid burnout using AI-powered pitch detection and visual feedback, gamifying the music education experience; Samplifi, which isolates auditory information for the benefit of hearing-impaired musicians; and Sounds.Studio, created by Never Before Heard Sounds, a browser-based music production platform that uses AI to help musicians create faster with tools like stem splitting, vocal conversion, timbre transfer and more.
Broadcast radio’s trade group is doubling down on its effort to combine federal rate court proceedings that will determine how most of the country’s songwriters get paid for airplay.
After a judge on May 26 denied the Radio Music Licensing Committee’s petition to combine rate court proceedings with leading performance rights organizations BMI and ASCAP under a single judge last week, according to a statement from BMI, the RMLC filed an appeal on Wednesday (May 31) at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
According to BMI’s interpretation of Southern District of New York Judge Louis Stanton‘s ruling denying the petition, neither the BMI Consent Decree nor the Music Modernization Act of 2018 justified the RMLC’s joint rate petition. Judge Stanton ordered the RMLC’s rate petition against ASCAP to be assigned to another judge and tried separately.
Just Stanton’s ruling instructs the court clerk to “sever all portions of the RMLC petition which seek the setting by a rate court of an ASCAP reasonable license fee under the ASCAP consent decree and assign them by the standard electronic method of selection of a judge of this court.”
The RMLC’s petition to combine the ASCAP and BMI under one judge who would simultaneously set rates for both performance rights organizations in once proceeding was based on what publishing sources have told Billboard is a wrong interpretation of the Music Modernization Act, which included a provision to moving rate hearings to a rotating roster of Southern District judges.
Having a single judge, instead of bifurcated rate court proceedings, could benefit the RMLC because it would likely pit BMI and ASCAP against each other, vying for a higher rate than the other and arguing over market share. In the past, Judge Stanton has overseen BMI rate trials and Judge Denise Cote has overseen ASCAP rate trials. Music publishing executives say that the MMA intended to keep the two-pronged approach for the PRO rate setting, but with rotating judges, not just the two who have overseen the proceedings up to now.
“We are extremely pleased that the RMLC’s latest attempt to deny fair compensation to songwriters was dismissed, and that its end run around the clear language of the BMI consent decree and the MMA was properly rejected by the Court,” BMI president and CEO Mike O’Neill said in a statement. “This would have cleared the way for BMI to secure the appropriate value of our affiliates’ music without the distractions the RMLC was trying to create. Unfortunately, the RMLC is once again opting for litigation over negotiation, and we will continue to do what is needed to protect the essential contributions our affiliates make to the radio industry.”
“It is unfortunate that the RMLC refuses to negotiate to pay songwriters fairly,” added ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews in her own statement. “ASCAP is focused on obtaining fair market rates from radio for our more than 900,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members. ASCAP will vigorously defend the value of our members’ music and fight the RMLC’s harmful attempt to weaponize its cartel market power to pay songwriters less.”
The RLMC did not respond to a request for comment at time of publishing.
Dr. Luke was named pop music songwriter of the year at the 2023 ASCAP Pop Music Awards, which were held at Yamashiro Hollywood in Los Angeles on May 18. This is the third win in that category for Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald). He won in 2010, and shared the award with Max Martin in 2011.
In the 40-year history of the ASCAP Pop Music Awards, only three other songwriters have won pop music songwriter of the year three or more times. Martin leads with 11 wins, followed by Diane Warren with five. Lionel Richie is tied with Dr. Luke with three wins.
Dr. Luke won this year based on the radio airplay and number of streams for such hits as Latto’s “Big Energy,” Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” and a string of hits for Doja Cat, including “Need to Know,” “Woman” and “You Right.”
The pop music songwriter of the year is determined by the total number of a writer’s shares in ASCAP Pop Music Award-winning songs multiplied by the winning songs’ impressions, which are calculated based on Luminate data for terrestrial and satellite radio and streaming services.
“Stay,” performed by The Kid LAROI and ASCAP member Justin Bieber, who co-wrote the song, won ASCAP pop music song of the year. The synth-pop smash notched seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remained on the chart for 63 weeks, which set a new record for a Bieber single.
“Stay,” which is published by Universal Music Publishing Group and Bieber Time Publishing, took the No. 1 slot on Billboard’s year-end Radio Songs chart for 2022. On Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 Songs chart for 2022, it finished No. 3 – even though its points were split between two years. The song had finished No. 12 on the year-end Hot 100 Songs chart for 2021.
Sony Music Publishing took ASCAP pop music publisher of the year for the second year in a row and the eighth time overall. Sony/ATV tied with EMI in 2009. Sony/ATV won outright or tied as publisher of the year in 2009, 2013-15, 2017 and 2019.
Sony Music Publishing won this year based on the strength of such hits as “Break My Soul” (Beyoncé), “Hrs and Hrs” (Muni Long), “One Right Now” (Post Malone and The Weeknd), “Numb Little Bug” (Em Beihold) and “23” (Sam Hunt).
Other songwriters honored for their ASCAP Pop Music Award-winning songs included Billy Walsh (“Die for You,” “I Like You,” “One Right Now”), Cardi B (“Wild Side”), Dua Lipa (“Sweetest Pie”), Fousheé (“Bad Habit”), Greg Kurstin (“Easy on Me”), Henry “Cirkut” Walter (“Die for You,” “Unholy”), Kim Petras (“Unholy”), Louis Bell (“I Like You,” “One Right Now”), Phil Plested (“I’m Good (Blue)”), Sarah Hudson (“Sweetest Pie”), Sia (“Unstoppable”), Starrah (“Wild Side”), Theron Thomas (“About Damn Time,” “Big Energy”) and Vaughn Oliver (“Big Energy,” “Super Freaky Girl”).
A complete list of 2023 ASCAP Pop Music Awards honorees can be found on the ASCAP website.
Performance rights organization ASCAP is bringing their creator summit to Los Angeles on June 21 for a one-day live event at Avalon Hollywood.
The 2023 ASCAP Experience, which was founded 18 years ago, is set to connect aspiring songwriters and composers with hit-making names across genres including Sarah Hudson (Dua Lipa, Camila Cabello), Leon Thomas III (Ariana Grande, Rick Ross), Hitmaka (Big Sean, Nicki Minaj), Steph Jones (Selena Gomez, Kelsea Ballerini), Darrell Brown (Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes), Neff-U (Justin Bieber, Sia) and more to be announced.
The summit will include a number of sessions across topics, from building a music career in the social media era to a live song feedback session during which guest speakers will listen to and share insights on a few songs pre-submitted by attendees, in front of a live audience. The 50th anniversary of hip-hop will also be celebrated, with a session dedicated to the global impact of the genre through a panel of “respected contributors to hip-hop’s storied history,” per a statement from ASCAP.
In previous years, panelists have included Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Justin Timberlake, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Katy Perry, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, Questlove, Lee Ann Womack, Wyclef Jean, Jermaine Dupri and Hans Zimmer, among others.
Registration for the live experience is open now, with tickets available for ASCAP members at $35 in advance and $50 on the day of. Unaffiliated songwriters and composers who would like to attend must first join ASCAP.
On Tuesday, ASCAP hosted their 2023 ASCAP Screen Music Awards at an invitation-only party in West Hollywood, Calif. Big winners of the night included Michael Abels for Jordan Peele’s film “Nope,” Cristobal Tapia de Veer and Kim Neundorf for their work on “The White Lotus,” and Bear McCreary’s win for Video Game Score of the Year for “God of War: Ragnarok.”
Michael Abels is having a banner month. Eight days after winning the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music along with collaborator Rhiannon Giddens for their opera Omar, Abels won the Composers’ Choice award for film score of the year at the 2023 ASCAP Screen Music Awards. The awards were presented at an invitation-only party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday (May 16).
The Composers’ Choice award winners are chosen by the ASCAP composer and songwriter community. Abels won for his score to Jordan Peele’s film Nope. His score was shortlisted for an Oscar for best original score in December but failed to make the final five.
Abels, 60, has scored all three of Peele’s film to date as a director – Get Out (2017), Us (2019) and Nope (2022), plus other films. He received two Primetime Emmy nods two years ago for his work on the HBO film Allen v. Farrow.
Cristobal Tapia de Veer was a double Composers’ Choice winner for his work on the HBO series The White Lotus. He took television theme of the year and shared the award for television score of the year with Kim Neundorf. de Veer won two Primetime Emmys in September for his work on the show.
Bear McCreary took video game score of the year for God of War Ragnarök.
There was a tie for documentary score of the year. The winners were Amanda Jones for Super/Natural and Jeff Cardoni for Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off.
Those five Composers’ Choice awards were part of the full slate of 2023 ASCAP Screen Music Awards, which honored music written for films, TV series and video games.
Simon Franglen won top box office film of the year for his score to the James Cameron blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water. Franglen’s score was shortlisted for an Oscar for best original score, but like Nope, failed to make the final five.
Among the top streaming films winners, John Debney was honored for his score to Hocus Pocus 2 while Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Khiyon Hursey, Mark Sonnenblick and Sukari Jones were celebrated for their collaborative work on the hit musical comedy Spirited.
Top streaming series winners include Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein for the Netflix series Stranger Things, Natalie Holt for the live-action Star Wars project Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siddhartha Khosla for Hulu’s hit comedy-drama Only Murders in the Building. Khosla received two Primetime Emmy nods last year for his work on the show.
David Vanacore was named the most-performed themes and underscore winner for his work on shows including Survivor, The Kardashians and The Daily Show. Composers Matthew Hawkins, Maurice “m.0.” Jackson and Neil Martin won top network television series for their main theme for NCIS, while John Sereda received top cable television series for his music in the historical drama When Calls the Heart.
The complete list of winners is available on the ASCAP website.
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Downtown Music continues to reconfigure its business with the appointment of Emily Stephenson as its new president of publishing and Jedd Katrancha as chief commercial officer. Along with the new leaders, global president of Downtown Music Services, Mike Smith, has stepped down “to pursue several personal projects and to focus on his ongoing charitable work,” according to a press release. News of the leadership shuffle arrives just over a week after the company’s CEO, Andrew Bergman, wrote a letter to Downtown staff announcing a second round of layoffs, citing the “reorganization” of the company. Stephenson, who most recently served as the division’s vp of business operations, will now oversee all publishing efforts at Downtown Music, including client acquisition and business development, A&R, rights management and client services for the group’s publishing companies: Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust and Sheer. She will be joined in these efforts by Jedd Katrancha, who was promoted to chief commercial officer of publishing. Katrancha will oversee business development, A&R and synch for Downtown’s publishing companies. – Kristin Robinson
ASCAP announced the 12 writer and 12 publisher members elected to serve on its board of directors for a two-year term beginning Saturday (April 1). In addition to ASCAP president/chairman of the board Paul Williams, writer members re-elected in the at-large field include composer/songwriter Jon Batiste; composer Richard Bellis; composer Bruce Broughton; songwriter/producer Desmond Child; composer Sharon Farber; writer vice chair composer Dan Foliart; songwriter/composer Michelle Lewis; composer/producer Marcus Miller; songwriter Jimmy Webb; and composer Doug Wood. Composer Alex Shapiro was re-elected in the symphonic and concert field. Meanwhile, the newly elected publisher director is Jon Singer (Spirit Music), while the publisher directors re-elected in the at-large field are Peter Brodsky (Sony Music Publishing); Bob Bruderman (Kobalt); Marti Cuevas (Mayimba Music); Keith Hauprich (BMG US); Dean Kay (Lichelle Music Company); Evan Lamberg (Universal Music Publishing Group); Leeds Levy (Leeds Music); Carianne Marshall (Warner Chappell Music); Mary Megan Peer (peermusic); and publisher vice chair Irwin Z. Robinson (Cromwell Music). James M. Kendrick of European American Music was re-elected in the symphonic and concert field.
Katie Soo was named chief business officer at live event ticketing platform DICE; she joins from educational subscription platform KiwiCo, where she served as chief marketing officer and remains as an advisor. In her role, Soo will oversee DICE’s consumer marketing, business-to-business marketing, fan experience, brand and creative, new growth initiatives and social and communications teams.
[PIAS] appointed Tom Keil as global head of dance and electronic/executive vp of A&R. Based in London, Keil joins the company from Ultra Music in Europe, where he served as general manager/vp of A&R. He can be reached at tom.keil@pias.com.
Business-to-business music and streaming solutions provider Tuned Global announced the hire and promotion of six team members to “supercharge” its business in Europe, according to a press release. Jonas Norberg, founder of DJ artificial intelligence company Pacemaker, was named the company’s head of AI and brings two members of his Pacemaker team with him: co-founder/chief technology officer Daniel Wallner and product development director Victor Garcia. Also hired were Daniel Kirby (as presales technical consultant) and Mateus Moura (as customer success manager), who will both work with Tuned Global’s senior vp/head of EMEA Rick Gleave to provide customers with technical support and insights. Lastly, Virginie Chelles was promoted to vp/head of marketing & communications; now located in France, she will work to boost the company’s growth in the territory.
Sounds and samples marketplace Splice hired Kevin Stewart as senior vp of engineering and David Ericksen as senior vp of product. Both will report to Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava. Stewart joins from Harvest and Ericksen joins from Adobe.
Good Company Entertainment — the firm that manages Jake Owen and Daves Highway and also boasts the independent label GCE Records — added Anna Schaeffer, Amy Jackson, Parker Fowler and Liz Sledge to the team. Schaeffer joins as manager of art direction and social media strategies, Jackson (formerly at UMG) joins as manager of marketing & consumer strategies, Fowler (formerly at Triple Tigers) joins as associate manager and Sledge joins as executive director of the Jake Owen Foundation. Schaeffer can be reached at anna@goodcompanyent.com, Jackson can be reached at amy@goodcompanyent.com, Fowler can be reached at parker@goodcompanyent.com and Sledge can be reached at liz@jakeowenfoundation.org.
Charlotte Bwana was promoted to vp of marketing and brand strategy at Audiomack, where she will lead the execution of brand strategies and oversee promotional initiatives across Africa. She can be reached at charlotte@audiomack.com.
The Alliance for Women Film Composers elected new leadership and a new board, with Heather McIntosh and Allyson Newman elected co-presidents of the organization. They succeed Catherine Joy, who has served as president since 2021. Elsewhere, Esin Aydingoz was elected secretary and Thomas Mikusz was elected treasurer. The remainder of the board is comprised of Joy, Alexandra Petkovski, Chanda Dancy, Connor Cook, Daisy Coole, Ghiya Rushidat, Jenna Fentimen, Laura Karpman, Lili Haydn, Lolita Ritmanis, Mandy Hoffman, Nami Melumad, Starr Parodi and Stephanie Economou. The executive director is Raashi Kulkarni. The alliance also created the position of vp of outreach and inclusion and appointed Sharon Farber to fill the role.
Entertainment business management firm FBMM promoted Regina A. Bassett, Fred Ford, Jeff Jones and Emily Walker to associate business managers.
Shore Fire Media promoted four across the public relations agency’s New York-based teams. Ailie Orzak and Victorie Selce have each been elevated to account executive positions, while Mary Claire “MC” Miskell and Rachel Jacobs were upped to junior account executives.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers on Wednesday (March 8) posted a 14% increase in collections to $1.522 billion while also reporting its fund available for distributions to songwriters and publishers grew 10.7% to $1.388 billion in 2022. In the prior year — 2021, when the economy was still impacted by the COVID pandemic — the performance rights organization disclosed revenues of $1.335 billion and distribution funds at $1.254 billion.
Moreover, the double-digit percentage increase for collection and distribution funds represents a significant bump from the pandemic-scarred 2021 when ASCAP posted a less than 1% increase in collections from 2020’s $1.327 billion and a 3.4% increase in distribution funds from $1.213 billion.
The PRO attributed its rebound and continued growth to its 2015-launched strategic growth plan, which focused on revenue growth, technological innovation and operational efficiency.
“It is our technical innovation coupled with an unparalleled work ethic that grew our domestic revenue 16.5% in 2022 and yielded a 6% compound annual growth rate since the inception of our strategic plan eight years ago,” ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said in a statement. Beyond that, ASCAP also noted the organization had achieved a 7% compound annual growth rate for total distributions to members over the same time period.
In an apparent reference toward ASCAP’s competitors — BMI, SESAC and GMR — Matthews continued her statement by noting it is “the only US PRO that operates on a not-for-profit basis which is a key differentiator among PROs. ASCAP creator and publisher members are the sole beneficiaries of this growth because we invested years ago in cloud computing, enabling us to address the challenges of digital streaming efficiently, and because we only pay songwriters and publishers, not private investors.”
Breaking out collections, ASCAP said its domestic receipts grew 16.5% to $1.178 billion from 2021’s $1.011 billion; while foreign receipts grew 6.3% to $344 million from the prior year’s total of $323.5 million. It attributed the discrepancy in growth rates to “challenges due to foreign currency exchange volatility.”
Moving over to funds available for distribution, ASCAP said domestic distribution funds totaled $1.048 billion — a 14.9% increase over the prior year’s total of $912.6 million, and further noted that it was the first time those funds had surpassed the $1 billion mark.
“We are elated to share these historic financial revenue and distribution results for 2022 with our songwriter, composer and publisher members, who are the foundation of the music we all love,” ASCAP chairman and president Paul Williams said in a statement. “In the US, we have competition, meaning that creators have a choice, and that choice should be ASCAP. It is in ASCAP’s DNA to ensure that we operate in the best interest of all our members. Our financial success for over 100 years, and a singular commitment to nurture their careers and maximize the value of their music, prove that our not-for-profit model of collective licensing works.”
Meanwhile, foreign revenue funds available for distribution totaled $340 million, or $1 million less than 2021’s total of $341 million. The latter total was larger than the $323 million reported for 2021 foreign receipts, and ASCAP attributed the unusual occurrence to “technological and distribution process efficiencies and timing.”
Finally, the organization said it delivered 90 cents on the dollar back to its members and affiliates, thus implying its expense structure costs 10% of revenue — and that’s down from 12.3% of collections in 2015 — the last time ASCAP publicly revealed detailed financials including a breakdown in its expense structure.
In its latest results, ASCAP said that it grew every major category of performance licensing, reporting general licensing revenue increased by 40%, radio by 32%, audio streaming by 16% and audio-visual by 7%, without breaking out the actual revenue numbers those income streams achieved in 2022 or 2021.
Volker Bertelmann’s score for All Quiet on the Western Front and Carter Burwell’s score for The Banshees of Inisherin are among the nominees for 2023 ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards.
They are also among the Oscar nominees for best original score, and were among the BAFTA nominees in that category (which Bertelmann won on Feb. 19).
Established as a first-of-its-kind program among U.S. performing rights organizations, the ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards enable composers to recognize the artistic accomplishments of their peers. The nominations committee includes composers and film, television and video game industry leaders. Voting is open to eligible ASCAP writer members through March 10 at www.ascap.com/composerschoice. Winners will be announced as part of the 2023 ASCAP Screen Music Awards the week of May 15.
Amanda Jones, Bear McCreary, Siddhartha Khosla, Dan Romer and Cristobal Tapia de Veer were each nominated in two categories.
More information about the 2023 ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards, including excerpts of the nominated music, is available at www.ascap.com/composerschoice.
Categories with six or more nominees reflect ties.
**Indicates a work co-written by non-ASCAP composer(s).
Film score of the year
All Quiet on the Western Front – Volker Bertelmann
Avatar: The Way of Water – Simon Franglen
The Banshees of Inisherin – Carter Burwell
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Nathan Johnson
The Menu – Colin Stetson
Nope – Michael Abels
Documentary score of the year
Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power – Sharon Farber
Conversion – Paul Leonard-Morgan
Prehistoric Planet – Hans Zimmer & Anže Rozman**
Super/Natural – Amanda Jones
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off – Jeff Cardoni
Television score of the year
Cobra Kai – Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Bear McCreary
Only Murders in the Building – Siddhartha Khosla
Slow Horses – Daniel Pemberton
Station Eleven – Dan Romer
The White Lotus – Cristobal Tapia de Veer & Kim Neundorf
Television theme of the year
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities – Holly Amber Church
Only Murders in the Building – Siddhartha Khosla
Somebody Somewhere – Amanda Jones
Station Eleven – Dan Romer
The White Lotus – Cristobal Tapia de Veer
Video game score of the year
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen – Skye Lewin, Michael Salvatori, Michael Sechrist**
God of War Ragnarök – Bear McCreary
Immortality – Nainita Desai
Minecraft: The Wild Update – Lena Raine**
MultiVersus – Gordy Haab