ASCAP Expands Royalty Premium Payment Plan for Music in Top Streamed Shows on Online Streaming Services

Adds Univision and UniMás to Broadcast TV Premiums

NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2021 -- As more and more consumers subscribe to online, direct-to-consumer audio-visual platforms, ASCAP is immediately expanding its existing TV Premium payment plan to include eligibility for top streamed shows on major "over-the-top" (OTT) streaming services. OTT services are those that offer programming directly to viewers over the internet such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Apple TV+, Disney+ and HBO Max. ASCAP is renaming and expanding the TV Premium Plan (TVP) to a platform agnostic Audio-Visual Premium plan (AVP). These expanded eligibility requirements for premium payments ensure that ASCAP composers, songwriters and music publishers are also eligible for premium bonus payments for the top streamed shows and movies on these services in addition to the continuation of premium eligibility for top rated series on cable and broadcast. The expansion of the premium payment program allows composers and songwriters a chance to share in the success of a hit show.

The global pandemic has accelerated consumer adoption of the "cord-cutting" phenomenon, and a generation of "cord-never" subscribers who have migrated from legacy TV programming services to online streaming services for consumption of their general entertainment content. With more than a century of experience navigating changes in consumer behavior and technological developments, ASCAP is well-positioned to handle this evolution and is focused on securing a healthy future for its members by making smart licensing deals that will continue to grow revenues from the AV OTT category, which has already yielded a compound annual growth rate of more than 30% since 2015.

In a further expansion of its premium payment program, ASCAP will also add the Univision and UniMás networks to its existing broadcast TV premiums, recognizing the growing market for Spanish-language programming in the US.

ASCAP's expanded Audio-Visual Premiums will take effect with the December 2021/January 2022 Publisher and Writer distributions.

ASCAP Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Matthews commented: "AV OTT services are rapidly scaling their businesses by providing subscribers with high-value offerings at price points that are disruptive to traditional TV economics. ASCAP is expanding its premium plan structure to ensure that our composers have the ability to earn a viable living from top-streamed shows. This protects the economic value of their music in AV OTT programming by creating incentives to retain their future backend public performance royalties in their own deal making with production companies and streaming services.

These payment changes were approved by a unanimous vote of the ASCAP Board of Directors on September 22, 2021. ASCAP is the only U.S. PRO with a Board of Directors comprised of 12 composers and songwriters and 12 music publishers elected by the members of ASCAP every two years.

ASCAP Chairman of the Board of Directors Paul Williams commented: "The board approved this change because ASCAP is committed to evolving its distribution rules to keep pace with the way music is consumed and licensed in the marketplace. ASCAP's Audio-Visual Premium payments recognize the significant value that the music in top programs brings to ASCAP's repertory. The Board's action here ensures the highest good for all concerned and the future health of the ASCAP membership."

About ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business - from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 825,000 members representing more than 16 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook.

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CONTACT:

Cathy Nevins

cnevins(at)ascap.com

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