artist development 12
performing rights
The Copyright Law of the United States, Section 101 defines a Performing Rights organizations as “an association, corporation, or other entity that licenses the public performance of non-dramatic musical works on behalf of copyright owners of such works, such as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) and SESAC, Inc.”
These associations or companies issue performing rights licenses. They track public performances. They collect performing license revenues and distribute those revenues to songwriters and music publishers. The performing rights organizations, also known as PROs) in the United States are ASCAP, BMI and SESAC.
Bands don’t join Performing Rights Organizations, songwriters do. So do publishers. That’s it.
A Performing Rights Organization collects money owed to songwriters for the public performance of their songs. Some examples would be radio airplay, placements in movies or TV shows, concerts, "elevator music," and even music on hold for phone systems. These are all uses of the song that the writer(s) gets paid a "performance royalty" for, and the P.R.O. collects that royalty and distributes it to the appropriate songwriters and/or publishers.
In order to comply with the U.S. copyright law, any establishment such as a nightclub or performance venue that plays copyrighted music is legally required to secure permission to use copyrighted music. It doesn’t matter if the playing of these songs are performed in a live performance or by mechanical means. This user of songs can secure licenses from the three performing rights organizations recognized by the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. Since, venues do not know which songs will be used during the course of the year, they purchase licenses from all three PROs.
When a concert promoter is working out the details of promoting a musical attraction, they may be thinking that paying the performers and their entourages covers them for the music that's being played. However, the Promoter may be overlooking an important aspect of promoting their event. The detail they may be missing is that many times, the artist performing the work is not the songwriter or composer of the work. This means that the Promoter must obtain permission to use that copyrighted work before their event occurs. This is true of all types of music - classical, jazz, country, rock, rap, hip-hop, dance and any other style of music that they may be presenting.
Public performances of music are how songwriters and composers earn their living. Users of songwriter’s songs need to obtain permission to use that work as stated in the U.S. copyright law, which was written to protect musical works so that the creators would be encouraged to continue to create. This law ensures that the creation of great music continues. But rather than have businesses contact every songwriter or composer to obtain permission to use the music that they want to present, Performing Rights Organizations handle the details of licensing the musical works.
Music speaks to the heart. Music also plays an important role in thousands of businesses -- from radio, television and cable broadcasts, to streaming music over the internet, to live and recorded music used in restaurants, hotels and retail stores.
Copyright owners give P.R.O.’s permission to license performances of their works, and P.R.O.’s generate fees on their behalf from businesses which use their music. This permits thousands of music users to work with thousands of music creators from around the world.
As a part of Artist Development, it is important that if the Artist is a songwriter or content creator that they belong to a performing rights organization. Study ASCAP, BMI and SESAC and see which one is best for the Artist.
Content Types
Songs
Sounds
Spoken Word
Music & Lyrics
Content for Product Development
Audio Recordings
Video Recordings