What Are ASCAP and BMI?
By
Michael McCready
Attorney at Law
ASCAP (American Society of Composers
and Performers)
and BMI (Broadcast Musicians Incorporated) are performing
rights
organizations. When you own a copyright you have certain rights,
one of
which is the right to perform your music publicly. In essence,
it allows you
to forbid anyone else from playing your songs in public. Any
time you hear
a song, it is being performed publicly; whether on the radio, on
television,
in a bar or restaurant or even on an elevator. As a copyright
owner, you can
forbid them from playing your songs.
However, if you want to sell your music, you will want these
places to play your
music. Therefore, you would grant a license (for a fee) to all
these places allowing
them to play your song. Needless to say, it would be impossible
for you to negotiate a license with
every radio station, every nightclub, etc.. In addition, it
would be difficult for you to enforce
your rights by suing those places who played your music without
paying a license fee.
This is where BMI and ASCAP fit in. When you join (technically
you do no join BMI
or ASCAP, you "affiliate") with one of these organizations, you
grant them the right to
negotiate licenses for your songs with all the places music is
performed publicly. By
affiliating
with ASCAP or BMI, you grant them the right to negotiate a
license on your behalf, to
collect and distribute revenue and to sue and enforce your
performance copyright. 95%
of all
commercially released music is covered by one of these two
organizations.
Just as you could not negotiate a fee for each song you own,
neither does BMI or
ASCAP negotiate an individual fee for each song. Instead, they
grant a blanket
license. BMI and ASCAP go to each radio station and make a
proposition: "We have the rights to
millions of songs that you want to play. For a flat fee of $X,
you can play all of our songs."
In this way, by buying a license from BMI and ASCAP, radio
stations can play 95% of all the
music ever written.
Each of these performing rights organizations negotiate a
separate fee for each place
where music will be performed publicly. The fees vary depending
on the number of songs
that will be played, i.e. a bar which plays lounge music from 8
P.M. to midnight would pay
less than an elevator which plays music 24 hours per day. The
size of the audience also
effects the amount of the fee, i.e. a large commercial radio
station would pay more than a
college station.
BMI and ASCAP collect enormous amounts of money through license
fees. Over
$638 million dollars in performance royalties were collected in
1992. First, the two groups
take all the revenue and pay their expenses. Both are
not-for-profit companies. Next, they
divide the money up between all their members. Both ASCAP and
BMI keep track of what
music is played and how frequently. Radio stations must keep log
books reporting every song
they play. BMI and ASCAP then compile all these reports and
apportion the revenue they
collect among the songs which were performed publicly. In this
way, a Top 40 song which is
played every 2 hours will get more performance royalties than a
song which is only played
once a week.
In order to join BMI, call (212) 586-2000 and to join ASCAP, call
(212) 621-6000.
Ask for a writer application packet. Both organizations
represent music publishers as well, but
that is beyond the scope of this column. The fee for a writer to
affiliate with ASCAP is $10
while there is no fee for writer affiliation with BMI. Finally,
you can only join one
organization since they both require an exclusive agreement with
a songwriter.
Michael McCready
represents clients in all areas of the music industry including
music, radio,
television,
stage, and book publishing. His music law practice includes
representing bands, record
labels, production companies, recording studios, promoters, and
music publishers.
His work includes copyrights, analyzing and drafting contracts,
trademarks,
publishing,
and litigation.
Michael McCready
Attorney at Law
1900 Chicago Road
Chicago, IL 60411
McCready@music-law.com
(708) 754-6212
Fax: (703) 754-8658
