ASCAP hits the $1bn threshold in revenues
ASCAP has become the first performance rights society in the world to report revenues in excess of $1 billion.
For calendar year 2014, the US PRO collected $1,001,452,000 and has distributed royalties in excess of $883 million to songwriters, composers and music publishers, up $32.3 million, a 4% increase over 2013.
In addition, ASCAP announced today that the number of musical performances the society has captured, identified, matched and processed for payment doubled from 250 billion in 2013 to 500 billion in 2014. Domestic revenue grew “across nearly all platforms in 2014,” reports ASCAP, for an overall increase of $57 million, or 6%. Revenues from foreign societies were up 4.9%. The operating expenses of the not-for-profit PRO were set at 12.6% in 2014.
ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews – who replaced long serving CEO John LoFrumento at the beginning of 2015 – described 2014 as “an incredibly successful” year for the PRO.
In a statement, Matthews said: “We worked extremely hard and continually innovated in order to maximize the financial opportunities for our members in the face of an evolving and increasingly competitive global landscape. We implemented new revenue growth strategies and productivity improvement initiatives in order to deliver the best collective licensing value proposition at the lowest possible cost for all stakeholders.”
Matthews added, “Our 2014 financial results clearly demonstrate that collective licensing is the most efficient licensing model available to creators and music licensees alike. The collective can accommodate big data growth of extreme scale at the lowest cost while also providing access to a broad, diverse and high quality repertory of music.”
For ASCAP president and chairman Paul Williams, these results come on the back of intense lobbying activity in Washington, DC, where ASCAP, alongside BMI and music publishers, are arguing for a change in the consent decrees that rule the activities of the PROs.
Williams commented: “I am very gratified that we were able to deliver such strong financial results for the talented women and men who call ASCAP home. From our point of view, if we can ensure fair market rates for our members by working with the Department of Justice to modernize our outdated Consent Decree, then everyone wins
– music creators, licensees and fans — because the value of collective licensing is that strong.”
A new round of hearings will take place March 10 on Capitol Hill at the initiative of the US Senate Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee, and, according to Billboard, the Department of Justice is in the process of reviewing the consent decrees that govern how ASCAP and BMI operate in the US by inviting in the coming weeks various stakeholders for informal discussions.
Source: Music Week
