ASCAP Legal Chief Defends Royalty Collection, Distribution Setup

The legal chief of one of the music industry’s biggest performance rights organizations pushed back on a US Copyright Office inquiry into how royalties are distributed to songwriters and music publishers.

“It’s a bit of an overreach for licensees or the government to tell PROs how to distribute their money,” Clara Kim, chief legal and business affairs officer of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, said Thursday at the Vanderbilt Music Law Summit.

PROs collect and distribute royalties for public performances of songs on broadcast media and in places such as hotel lobbies and restaurants. The Copyright Office ...