The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and YouTube have signed a multi-year agreement for US public performance rights and data collaboration.
Effectively immediately, the deal will see the two entities work together with the aim of ensuring that ASCAP members get paid more fairly and accurately for the use of their music on YouTube. It will also enable new levels of monetisation and transparency for ASCAP and its members.
"This agreement achieves two important ASCAP goals - it will yield substantially higher overall compensation for our members from YouTube and will continue to propel ASCAP’s ongoing transformation strategy to lead the industry toward more accurate and reliable data," said ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews. "The ultimate goal is to ensure that more money goes to the songwriters, composers and publishers whose creative works fuel the digital music economy.”
The agreement leverages YouTube’s data exchange and ASCAP’s vast database of musical works to address the industry challenge of identifying songwriter, composer and publisher works on YouTube.
“YouTube is dedicated to ensuring artists, publishers and songwriters are fairly compensated,” added Lyor Cohen, global head of music at YouTube. “As YouTube delivers more revenue to the music industry through a combination of subscription and advertising revenue, it’s great to see ASCAP take a progressive approach towards the long term financial success of its members.”
