NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Mar 8, 2012) - ASCAP, the global leader in performance rights royalty collections and advocacy on behalf of songwriters, composers and copyright owners, today announced strong revenues of $985 million for calendar year 2011, the second highest revenues in the organization's history, and an increase of 5.4% over 2010. Collections from foreign countries totaled $347 million, an increase of approximately $50 million over 2010.
ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams commented: "The demand for ASCAP's repertory across all genres of music is enormous and growing by leaps and bounds, both domestically and abroad. A major driver of our revenue growth in 2011 was the popularity of our members' music abroad, leading to the highest ever foreign collections bolstered by an advantageous foreign exchange rate. As songwriters and composers, we depend on the efficiencies of ASCAP to manage our performing rights in a rapidly changing global economy. ASCAP's advocacy throughout the world is an important factor in ensuring fair treatment and compensation for songwriters and composers of every kind of music."
Representing more than 425,000 music creators from every genre, the member-owned organization distributed over $824 million to its songwriters, composers and music publishers. ASCAP is the only performing rights organization (PRO) to distribute royalties exceeding $800 million annually, which it has done for the past four years, delivering a total of $3.3 billion to its members. ASCAP remains among the most-efficient performing rights organizations with an operating expense ratio among the lowest in the world -- 11.9%, down 2 percentage points from last year.
According to ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento, "ASCAP has been able to deliver strong financial results for our members through licensing innovations, operational efficiencies and growth in foreign revenues. We will continue to meet the challenges of this economy and evolving music marketplace through innovation and by offering the best model for licensing the most in-demand repertory of music in the world. In this unsettled time, our goal is to ensure a stable future for our members."
Toward that end, several multi-year license negotiations were concluded with major licensees in 2011, including XM/Sirius Radio, HBO, Viacom and the radio industry, providing security and certainty for ASCAP members for the next five years. The radio settlement includes a return to a revenue-based fee structure as radio is broadening its revenue base through new distribution platforms, such as online, wireless, multicast and HD stations.
In 2011, Netflix, Hulu and Spotify were among the major digital services that signed ASCAP blanket license agreements. For digital services with billions of performances, an ASCAP blanket license provides unparalleled flexibility and efficiency. The blanket license proves a valuable and simple solution to legally perform the ASCAP repertory of over 8.5 million copyrighted works while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. ASCAP has already licensed thousands of new and established new media services, ranging from start-ups to the biggest players on the Internet and mobile networks.
ASCAP members continued as the dominant creative forces in music throughout 2011, taking home major honors and awards, and writing the world's most performed and best-loved songs, scores and compositions. Oscars went to Trent Reznor and Randy Newman; Golden Globes to Randy Newman and Diane Warren; the Pulitzer Prize to Zhou Long; Jay Z, Jeff Beck, Arcade Fire, Josh Kear, Paul Worley and Esperanza Spaulding won big at the Grammys; Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Book of Mormon captured multiple Tonys; Katy Perry became the first woman to score five #1 singles from the same album; and ASCAP members claimed the top nine spots on Billboard's list of the top Hot 100 songwriters of the decade -- Timbaland, Dr. Luke, Pharrell Williams, Max Martin, Rob Thomas, Alicia Keys, Akon, Scott Storch and Stargate's Mikkel Eriksen and Tor Hermansen.
ASCAP continued to offer members the best career development, education and professional recognition through our highly successful and innovative programs, from the annual ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO to the Sundance/ASCAP Music Café to TV and film composing workshops to multi-genre songwriting workshops and songwriting camps, bringing together emerging and hit writers, to our annual award shows.
Also in 2011, ASCAP introduced several enhancements to its online Member Access interface, providing members with the most advanced online tools in performing rights for managing their catalogs, royalty statements and more.
New Leadership Structure
ASCAP created a new organizational structure in 2011 which consolidated several operational areas and expanded the Membership, Licensing and International departments into synergistic units positioned to deliver enhanced services to members, operational efficiencies and licensing innovations. Three ASCAP executives were tapped to the lead the new departments:
EVP, Membership Randy Grimmett was promoted to take on added leadership of a multi-functional membership department which consolidates member services, creative services, business affairs, estates and claims, and marketing and communications into a fully integrated department that is serving the evolving career needs of members and providing the strongest advocacy for their work.
Vincent Candilora, formerly SVP, was promoted to Executive Vice President, Licensing, taking leadership of all licensing-related areas including broadcast, cable, online, wireless and general licensing as well as infringements.
Roger Greenaway, formerly SVP, International, and based in London, is now named EVP, with all international operations reporting to him, including relationships with foreign societies, collection of foreign revenues and distributions.
Commenting on the executive promotions, LoFrumento said: "As the only member-owned performing rights organization, we are committed to providing members with the best payments, advocacy, services, tools, information and education to help them succeed now and in the future. Randy Grimmett has proven himself as a forward-thinking leader who understands how our members are impacted by business trends and what we need to do to protect their livelihoods. As a strategist and negotiator, Vincent Candilora's experience has been an important part of ASCAP's ongoing licensing success and he has spearheaded several innovations in how licensees interface with ASCAP, resulting in reduced costs. Roger Greenaway's expertise and deep understanding of the international market have ensured ASCAP's global leadership to the benefit of our members, as evidenced by our 2011 collections."
[Note: Financial results reported in this press release are un-audited. Independently audited results will be available in May 2012.]
About ASCAP
Established in 1914, ASCAP is the first and leading U.S. Performing Rights Organization (PRO) representing the world's largest repertory totaling over 8.5 million copyrighted musical works of every style and genre from more than 425,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members. ASCAP has representation arrangements with similar foreign organizations so that the ASCAP repertory is represented in nearly every country around the world where copyright law exists. ASCAP protects the rights of its members and foreign affiliates by licensing the public performances of their copyrighted works and distributing royalties based upon surveyed performances. ASCAP is the only American PRO owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com