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Intellectual Property News: ASCAP to License Satellite Radio


Those of you following the evolution of intellectual property rights in the digital world should find this interesting (and I know many of you are musicians and composers): The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) announced yesterday it has inked a music licensing deal with satellite radio operators XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. This means the authors of the 7 million compositions represented by ASCAP will get paid for their work. Yours truly is among the 130,000 members of ASCAP as both a composer and lyricist. Joining a performing rights organization like ASCAP or BMI, incidentally, makes sense for anyone whose music is being performed, even if you don’t consider yourself a professional.

Sirius and XM each provide wide lineups of digital channels, many commercial-free, for a monthly fee. (Wouldn’t it be great to have a PC Card that enabled our PowerBooks for satellite radio? Anyone know of such a product?)

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.