How ASCAP Collects and Distributes Performance Royalties

ASCAP collects performance royalties by licensing the public performance of its members' musical works to music users—broadcasters, venues, streaming services, and others—and then distributes the resulting license fees to songwriters, composers, and music publishers based on how their works were performed. This applies to works in the ASCAP repertory; anyone seeking details on specific payments can consult ASCAP's royalties and payment pages.

What a Performance Royalty Is

A performance royalty is the license income generated when a musical work is performed publicly—played on radio or television, streamed, or performed live in a venue. Because a single song can be performed in thousands of places at once, individual writers and publishers cannot practically negotiate and monitor every use themselves. ASCAP acts as the intermediary that grants the licenses and collects the fees on their behalf.

How Collection Works

Licensing music users

ASCAP issues licenses that give music users permission to publicly perform the works in its repertory. The fees from those licenses form the pool of money that is later distributed as royalties.

Tracking performances

To know who should be paid, ASCAP needs a record of what was performed. It gathers performance data—for example, from broadcast logs, set lists, and streaming reports—so that uses of specific works can be matched to the writers and publishers who own them.

How Distribution Works

Royalties are allocated according to the usage of each work: the more a work is performed within the surveyed data, the larger its share of the distribution. Payments then flow to the rights holders of that work—its songwriters, composers, and music publishers.

Where to Check Payment Details

ASCAP's site includes a royalties and payment section (the "Payment System" page) for looking into how payments are handled. If you are a member or publisher wanting specifics on your own distributions, that section is the place to start rather than relying on general descriptions.

A Practical Example

Consider a songwriter whose song is played on a licensed radio station and streamed on a licensed service. Both uses fall under ASCAP licenses. The station and the streaming service pay license fees to ASCAP; the performances are captured in ASCAP's performance data; and the songwriter and publisher receive a share of the distribution proportional to those logged performances. The key mechanism is the link between licensed use → recorded performance → allocated payment.