ASCAP Releases Songwriter Bill of Rights

ASCAP officially launched a “Bill of Rights for Songwriters and Composers” yesterday (4/17) to remind the public, industry participants, and the guys in Washington about the central roles and rights of those who conceive and create music. The initiative, which revolves around 10 core principles, has been enacted to protect rights already inherent in the act of music creation and U.S. Copyright law in response to recent insecurities about the future of the music business.

ASCAP officially launched a “Bill of Rights for Songwriters and Composers” yesterday (4/17) to remind the public, industry participants, and the guys in Washington about the central roles and rights of those who conceive and create music. The initiative, which revolves around 10 core principles, has been enacted to protect rights already inherent in the act of music creation and U.S. Copyright law in response to recent insecurities about the future of the music business.

Included in these “10-core principles” are the right to be “compensated for use of creative works and share in the revenues they generate,” and the right to “license works and control the ways in which they are used,” according to ASCAP’s website.

ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman, also an Academy Award-winning lyricist, said the organization launched “this Bill of Rights” because today’s industry dynamic has made it “all to easy to overlook the source of it all – individual songwriters, lyricists and composers.” “Our goal,” she continued, “is to remind lawmakers, the general public and music creators themselves of the rights that are inherent in their art.”

In only a few days during ASCAP’s “I Create Music Expo” earlier this month, more than 500 signatures were collected, including those of Lionel Richie, Jackson Brown, Steve Miller, Mike Stoller and others. Over the next few months, ASCAP will continue to collect signatures and support from both established and aspiring songwriters, lyricists and composers from all genres, which will be shared with key legislatures in Washington as well as leaders both inside and out of the music industry. Those interested in adding support to the bill can sign it electronically at ASCAP’s SITE.