FYI: ASCAP Licensing Letters

Several gym owners have reported receiving letters from ASCAP requesting payment for an annual licensing fee. An example of the letter is below:

ASCAP’s more than 487,129 songwriter and publisher members thank you for using music in your business. As you know, music plays a valuable role in creating an environment that attracts and retains customers. It is also important to note that music is valuable intellectual property. Ownership of this property remains with those who create it. To publicly perform copyrighted music legally, you must obtain permission from the copyright owners or their representatives, such as ASCAP.

Finding, negotiating with and obtaining permission from each of the owners of the music you might use would be impractical and very expensive. That is why we offer the ASCAP blanket license which, for one annual fee, covers your use of all the music in our repertory. For over 90 years, ASCAP has provided music licenses to a wide variety of businesses. Hundreds of thousands of business operators have chosen ASCAP licenses as a convenient and inexpensive method to meet their responsibilities under the Federal Copyright Law. We trust that you will too.

An ASCAP license authorizes performances of many millions of copyrighted musical works in the ASCAP repertory and in the repertories of affiliated foreign performing rights organizations representing over 100 territories. Also enclosed with this letter is a flier that provides examples of the many varieties of works included in the ASCAP repertory and explains how to obtain information on the repertory and ASCAP’s members. You can find much more information about ASCAP, its more than 487,129 members and the vast ASCAP repertory on our Web site, www.ascap.com.

We realize that your time is valuable and that important matters, such as obtaining the rights to perform music legally, are occasionally postponed. Let us help. Simply sign and return the attached license agreement with the appropriate payment as indicated on the invoice. We will return an executed copy for your file.

Please call me toll-free at the number listed below with any questions you may have regarding ASCAP, our members or songs, the proposed license agreement or the factors used in determining your license fee. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

If anyone has contact ASCAP regarding this and has more information to share, please let us know.