Glossary · Royalties
ASCAP
ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, is a US performing rights organization founded in 1914. It licenses public performance of its members' compositions and pays performance royalties. Membership costs a $50 one-time fee for writers and $50 for publishers.
ASCAP is the oldest US performing rights organization and the only one that is member-owned and operated on a non-profit basis, governed by a board elected by its writer and publisher members. It licenses radio, television, streaming services, venues, restaurants, retailers and anywhere else compositions are performed publicly, then distributes what it collects to the writers and publishers of the works performed, less operating costs.
Joining is open to anyone with a work written or in progress. ASCAP charges a $50 one-time processing fee for a writer membership and a separate $50 one-time processing fee for a publisher membership, per ascap.com/join, retrieved August 2026. Both accounts matter: ASCAP pays the writer share to the writer account and the publisher share to the publisher account, and without the second one, half of your performance royalty has no destination.
Choosing between ASCAP and BMI is mostly a wash on money and comes down to structure and cost. BMI charges songwriters nothing to affiliate but $175 for an individual publisher account; ASCAP charges $50 and $50. At two accounts, ASCAP totals $100 and BMI totals $175 for an individual, per those organisations' published fees in August 2026. Neither pays better as a rule, and neither will tell you otherwise in writing.
The misunderstanding: that joining ASCAP means you are registered. Affiliation is step one. Every individual song still has to be registered as a work with ASCAP, with correct co-writer shares, or performances of it will not attach to you. And ASCAP does not cover mechanical royalties — those go through The MLC — or anything on the sound recording side.
I hold my own PRO accounts; check ascap.com for current terms before joining.
Related terms
- BMIBMI, Broadcast Music, Inc., is a US performing rights organization founded in 1939 that licenses public performance of…
- PRO (performing rights organization)A performing rights organization licenses the public performance of musical compositions and collects performance royalties for…
- Performance royaltyA performance royalty is the money owed when a musical composition is performed publicly — on radio, on television, in a bar, at…
- Publisher shareThe publisher share is the half of a composition's performance and mechanical royalties that belongs to the publisher of the…
Answers that use this term
- Does DistroKid Collect All of Your Music Royalties?No. DistroKid collects one of the four royalty streams your song generates — the recording (master) side from streaming…
- Where Does the Money From One Stream Actually Go?One stream of one song generates money in four separate places at once: the recording royalty (collected by your distributor)…
- ASCAP or BMI — Which PRO Should a Beginner Join?BMI is free for songwriters and ASCAP charges a $50 one-time processing fee, so BMI is the cheaper door for a beginner.
- Why Am I Only Getting Half My Performance Royalties?Because performance royalties are split into a songwriter share and a publisher share, roughly half each, and ASCAP and BMI pay…
Definitions on this site describe the United States system. I am an artist who has been through this, not a lawyer.
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