ASCAP, BMI and SoundExchange for a US music studio: when to license or register

What to take away

The three bodies a studio actually deals with

ASCAP and BMI both license public performance of compositions. They collect from radio, venues, bars and streaming services, then pay songwriters and publishers. The two split the market by affiliation, so one blanket license does not cover works signed to the other. A studio that plays music publicly usually needs both.

SoundExchange collects digital performance royalties for sound recordings on satellite radio, internet radio and non-interactive streaming. That money goes to the recording owner and the featured artists. The songwriter gets nothing from it.

Get the licensing and compliance picture straight before you sign anything. Performance rights, mechanical rights and the digital sound recording right each have a different payer.

When you owe a performance license and when you do not

Recording and mixing for a client is not public performance. Playback limited to the people working the session needs no license. The client clears its own release.

The line is audience. A listening party open to the public, a live session streamed to viewers, or background music in a lobby all count as public performance. So does a paid open mic or beat battle, where the studio acts as promoter.

Write the compliance checklist around that line so staff know when to ask for coverage and when the client owns the problem. Studios lose money both ways: paying for coverage they never trigger, or running a public event with none.

A performance license is not a mechanical license. Mechanical covers reproduction and distribution, which is what happens when a client presses vinyl or uploads a track.

Registering as a rights holder

A studio that owns recordings or writes for its own releases sits on the other side of the table. It registers instead of licensing.

Start with copyright. The U.S. Copyright Office registers sound recordings and musical works, and registration is what makes statutory damages and attorney's fees available in an infringement suit. Its types of works page separates the recording from the composition underneath it.

The recording is the captured performance, the audio file. The composition is the notes and lyrics. A studio that tracks a band usually touches the recording; the songwriter owns the composition unless something was signed.

Title 17 governs ownership of both, and the Copyright Law of the United States is the statute to read before anyone signs a split sheet. It sets out how ownership transfers and what work made for hire means.

Then register the composition with ASCAP or BMI and the recording with SoundExchange. Keep certificates, split sheets and session files in one place. A statement is only useful if you can match it to a work you own.

How SoundExchange royalties are collected and split

SoundExchange pays for non-interactive digital plays: satellite radio, internet radio, curated channels where the listener does not pick the exact track. Interactive services pay through other channels, which is why one track earns here and another does not.

The owner's share and the artist's share are set by statute. You do not negotiate them. What you control is who is listed as owner when the recording is registered.

A studio that produced under a work for hire agreement may own the recording and the owner's share. A studio that merely tracked a session the client paid for owns nothing to register.

Registration is free and direct with SoundExchange. You need the recording title, the ISRC, the artist name and the ownership split. Wrong or missing ISRCs are the most common reason a recording earns nothing.

Statements show plays by service and track. Reconcile each one against your release log. Airplay with no line item almost always means an incomplete registration.

Reading an ASCAP or BMI statement

The two societies use different column layouts and different payment terms. Learn both if you collect from both.

Each statement lists works by title, the source of the performance, the period and the amount. The source tells you where the money came from: a station, a service, a venue, or a foreign society.

The amount is not a per-play figure. Performance royalties are pooled and allocated by survey and weighting, so a hit on a major service pays more than an obscure track on a small station. Do not expect the statement to match a play count.

Watch for works filed under a different title. Alternate spellings, remix titles and registration errors push payments onto the wrong line or leave them unclaimed. Claim anything you recognize.

Foreign money often arrives through the domestic society under a sub-publishing arrangement, months after the performance. A thin quarter does not mean the track stopped earning.

Treat royalty income as its own line, separate from session revenue, in the pricing and profit model. It arrives on its own schedule and cannot be forecast like booked hours.

Producer, engineer and studio shares

Splits are where studios lose money quietly. A handshake on session day is not a split, and a verbal promise does not survive a hit record.

The composition belongs to the songwriter or songwriters. The recording belongs to whoever owns it, usually the artist or label. Producers and engineers take points on one or both, by agreement.

A producer commonly takes points on the recording and sometimes a share of the composition if they wrote into it. An engineer usually works for a fee, with points only if negotiated.

A studio renting the room and gear charges a day rate and owns nothing unless the contract says otherwise. Ownership follows the agreement, not the address where the tape rolled.

A worked example: a client books two days, pays the day rate and signs a split sheet before the session. The client owns the recording, the producer takes three points, the songwriter keeps the composition, and the studio has no royalty claim.

If the studio instead produced for a reduced fee in exchange for points, the split sheet has to say so in writing.

Every session should end with a signed split sheet: each contributor, the work, the percentage, the date. File it with the session and the registration number. The workflow and operations of a well-run studio make that a required step, not an afterthought.

What the Music Modernization Act changed

Before the Act, streaming services and publishers struggled with unmatched data and unpaid mechanicals. The law created a mechanical licensing collective that issues blanket mechanical licenses to digital services and distributes what it collects. The Copyright Office explains the structure on its Music Modernization Act page.

For your client, the practical effect is that a release uploaded to a streaming service is covered by the blanket license. Nobody negotiates a mechanical track by track. The client still has to register the composition so the money can be matched to a payee.

The Act also changed how pre-1972 recordings are treated for digital performance. Archival material that once fell outside federal protection now generates royalties.

Tell clients to register with the collective or their publisher and to keep metadata clean. Bad metadata is the main reason mechanical money goes unclaimed, and the studio often holds the only correct session data.

When a split goes wrong

The first question in any dispute is who registered what. A certificate is evidence of ownership, and it is the gate to federal court and statutory damages.

The Copyright Office runs the registration portal where a rights holder files recordings and compositions. Keep a copy of every filing you help prepare.

For smaller disputes, the Copyright Claims Board hears certain copyright claims, including some ownership and infringement matters, without the cost of a full federal case.

A studio that finds its session file used without permission can bring a claim only if it owns the recording. Under work for hire, the client owns it and the studio has nothing. That is why the contract matters more than the hard drive.

Keep contracts, split sheets, registrations and session logs for every project. The music studio license requirements that matter to clients increasingly turn on who can prove what they own.

Common questions

Does a studio need an ASCAP or BMI license to record a cover song?

No. Recording a cover is reproduction, covered by a mechanical license, not performance. The client or the studio obtains the mechanical before distribution.

Can a studio collect SoundExchange royalties if it only recorded the session?

Only if the studio owns the sound recording. If the client paid for the session and owns the recording, the client registers and collects.

How long does ASCAP or BMI take to pay after airplay?

Timing varies by survey and source, and foreign royalties can lag months. Treat royalty income as unpredictable and separate from session revenue.

Is copyright registration required to own a song?

No. Ownership exists when the work is created and fixed. Registration is what allows a lawsuit and statutory damages, so file early.