Performing rights societies

• Author: Robert A. Gorman
• Profession: University of Virginia School of Law
• Pages: 85

It is obvious that the owners of copyright in, say, a popular song cannopersonally monitor, license or collect royalties from the potentially vasnumber of public performances of their music-in live nightclub and in restaurant performances, in jukebox plays, in radio and television broadcasts, in music subscription services such as Muzak, in supermarkets anproduction plants, on college campuses, in motion picture theaters frofilm soundtracks, and the like. The owners of musical copyright havformed so-called performing rights societies to do so. The first such society in the United States, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), was formed in 1914 by eminent American composers including Victor Herbert and John Philip Sousa. The other major performing rights society is BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.), formed in 1939, and a third is SESAC (Society of E. pean Stage...