The purpose of a Performance Rights Organization is to figure out who’s music is getting played and then paying that artist, writer and publisher for those public performances of their work. It’s hard to put a price tag or a number on how important music is to the world, but long ago, when the record business was just getting started, artists and writers of music argued that what they were doing was of some value to the world. And radio stations and bars and clubs and concert halls and shopping malls all agreed, music definitely was good for business. So around this time the first Performance Rights Organization was created. It was called the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers or ASCAP. It’s job was to figure out all the ways and places in which music was being used publicly and how to turn that into dollars for the people creating the music. They came up with a scheme that was pretty simple to understand and quite effective. They did this by selling licenses to any place of business that used music. A license is a permit issued by an owner or an authority to own or use something. If you wanted to start a radio station you had to buy a license from ASCAP. If you owned a club where live music was going to be performed you had to buy a license from ASCAP. If you owned a store where you were going to play music to create a relaxing atmosphere for your shoppers, you had to buy a license from ASCAP. There are now three major organizations that collect performance money for artists, one being ASCAP, another being BMI and the last being SESAC. All do the exact same thing: Collect money for artists, writers and publishers for the public performance of their songs.
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