# ASCAP

> ASCAP is a member-owned, not-for-profit performing rights organization that turns public uses of music into royalties for songwriters, composers and music publishers. It licenses a catalog of more than 20 million works to streaming services, broadcasters, venues and hundreds of thousands of other businesses, then matches trillions of performances to rightsholders and distributes the proceeds. Its differentiation is structural as much as technical: members elect its board, outside investors do not own it, and ASCAP says 90 cents of every dollar collected returns to members as royalties.

- **Founded:** 1914
- **Headquarters:** New York, United States
- **Founders:** Victor Herbert (Co-founder and first vice president), George Maxwell (Co-founder and first president), Nathan Burkan (Co-founder and legal counsel), Irving Berlin (Founding songwriter member), James Weldon Johnson (Founding songwriter member), John Philip Sousa (Founding composer member)
- **Team size:** Approximately 2,000 employees according to supplied company data; ASCAP does not prominently publish a current employee count.
- **Products:** ASCAP Blanket License, Member Access and Title Registration, ASCAP Repertory and ACE Database, ASCAP OnStage, Songview
- **Notable:** Helped establish the enforceability of public-performance compensation through the 1917 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Herbert v. Shanley Co., Reported a record $1.945 billion in 2025 revenue and $1.759 billion available for royalty distributions., Surpassed 1.1 million members in 2025 after welcoming more than 80,000 new members during the year.

## Products & services

- **ASCAP Blanket License** — Licenses businesses to publicly perform the more than 20 million works in ASCAP's repertory across digital services, broadcasting, hospitality, retail and live venues.
- **Member Access and Title Registration** — Online tools for members to register works, manage catalog information, inspect statements and receive royalties.
- **ASCAP Repertory and ACE Database** — Searchable ownership and rights information used by music users and rightsholders.
- **ASCAP OnStage** — A program through which writer members can report eligible live performances of their own music for royalty consideration.
- **Songview** — A data collaboration begun with BMI that reconciles ownership information; its expansion with SESAC and GMR covers information on more than 38 million works.
- **Songwize** — Royalty administration for ASCAP members and publishers that directly license works, using ASCAP's processing and payment infrastructure.
- **ASCAP Experience** — An annual conference and on-demand education program for songwriting craft, career development, monetization and professional networking.
- **Advocacy and creator support** — Policy advocacy, workshops, awards, wellness benefits and career programs for the music-creator community.

## Achievements

- Helped establish the enforceability of public-performance compensation through the 1917 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Herbert v. Shanley Co.
- Reported a record $1.945 billion in 2025 revenue and $1.759 billion available for royalty distributions.
- Surpassed 1.1 million members in 2025 after welcoming more than 80,000 new members during the year.
- Built a repertory exceeding 20 million musical works and processes trillions of performances annually.
- Maintained a reported 10% overhead rate in 2025 while operating without debt.
- Co-created Songview, whose planned expanded dataset with BMI, SESAC and GMR covers more than 38 million works.
- Reached its 112th anniversary in 2026 as the oldest U.S. performing rights organization.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Reported record 2025 revenue of $1.945 billion and $1.759 billion available for royalty distributions, with membership above 1.1 million.
- **2026-02** — Added discounted MD Live virtual urgent care, dermatology and mental-health services to the ASCAP Wellness Program.
- **2026-02** — Held the 19th ASCAP Experience in Los Angeles, featuring education, feedback, networking and performances for creators.
- **2025-10** — Aligned with BMI and SOCAN on registration policies for partially AI-generated musical compositions with meaningful human authorship.
- **2025-09** — Announced the expansion of Songview with BMI, SESAC and GMR repertoire information, targeting a combined view of more than 38 million works.
- **2025-03** — Submitted comments on the U.S. AI Action Plan arguing that AI leadership and strong copyright protections can coexist.
- **2024-10** — Announced a strategic alliance with SACEM spanning digital licensing, technology sharing, creator programs and an AI task force.

## Links

- Website: https://www.ascap.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ascap
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ascap
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ascap
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascap/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ascap
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ascap

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ascap
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-13