Being an ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) member has its advantages. Marilyn Bergman (President and Chairman of the board) sent an e-mail to all ASCAP members back in January of 2008 regarding their progress to convince Congress and the Courts that all songwriters, composers, and music publishers are entitled to fair compensation for their copyrighted musical works. For 94 years, ASCAP has been representing the performing right for composers, songwriters, and music publishers, which is a large and growing part of songwriters, composers, and music publishers compensation; however, mechanical and synchronization rights are also a critical element of livelihood too. 

The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) began a hearing that will determine mechanical rates for every songwriter and music publisher in America. It will be critical because, in addition to setting rates for physical products, rates will be set for the first time ever for digital products such as digital downloads, subscription services and ringtones.

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) will be representing the mechanical rights interest of songwriters and music publishers in this hearing. On the other side of this fight stands the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Digital Media Association (DiMA). Both the RIAA and DiMA have proposed significant reductions in mechanical royalty rates that would be disastrous for songwriters and music publishers.

Irwin Robinson, ASCAP Board member and Chairman of the NMPA added, “Our opponents in this hearing are proposing a rate structure which would have devastating consequences for songwriters, composers and music publishers trying to make a living, now or in the future.” The initial hearing will last four weeks, followed by a rebuttal hearing in May, and a final decision expected on October 2. 

And while all this is going on, ASCAP has been leading the fight for fair performance right compensation in Federal Court against DiMA members AOL, Yahoo! and RealNetworks. Clearly these are perilous times for composers, songwriters, and music publishers that create the music that generates profit for those that use our music.

If any updates occur, I’ll be posting it here on my blog. So keep checking back for further updates.