MUMBAI: After reporting revenues that have run in excess of $1 billion, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), has become the first performance rights society in the world to have achieved this.

ASCAP released a statement on 3 March stating that the number of musical performances the society has captured, identified, matched and processed for payment doubled from 250 billion in 2013 to 500 billion in 2014. The statement also reported that for calendar year 2014, the US PRO (performing right organisation) collected $1,001,452,000 and has distributed royalties in excess of $883 million to songwriters, composers and music publishers, up by $32.3 million, which is 4 per cent more than 2013.

Reports said that the domestic revenue grew across nearly all platforms in 2014 for an overall increase of $57 million which is 6 per cent. Also, the revenues from foreign societies were up 4.9 per cent.

Newly appointed ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said in a statement, “We worked extremely hard and continually innovated in order to maximise the financial opportunities for our members in the face of an evolving and increasingly competitive global landscape. We implemented new revenue growth strategies and productivity improvement initiatives in order to deliver the best collective licensing value proposition at the lowest possible cost for all stakeholders."

Matthews further added, "Our 2014 financial results clearly demonstrate that collective licensing is the most efficient licensing model available to creators and music licensees alike. The collective can accommodate big data growth of extreme scale at the lowest cost while also providing access to a broad, diverse and high quality repertory of music.”

ASCAP president and chairman Paul Williams opined, "I am very gratified that we were able to deliver such strong financial results for the talented women and men who call ASCAP home. From our point of view, if we can ensure fair market rates for our members by working with the Department of Justice to modernise our outdated Consent Decree, then everyone wins – music creators, licensees and fans -- because the value of collective licensing is that strong."