Arts Professional Story: Shawn Murphy

Shawn Murphy.

The basic service that ASCAP provides to musicians is royalty collection and distribution for public performances of their songs. That's why ASCAP was created in the first place, but we have also evolved to become a major advocate for songwriters' rights here in America. Songwriters face a lot of challenges from music users like broadcasters, cell phone companies, internet service providers and consumer electronics companies, and ASCAP is constantly lobbying Congress to maintain the rights that we currently have.

What additional services does Chicago ASCAP office provide for musicians on a local level?

We try to facilitate our members' careers any way we can through showcases, workshops, and networking events. We also spend a lot of time communicating with record and publishing companies on the coasts to help expose talent here in the Midwest.

How do 'performance rights' correspond with 'publishing rights' and why are the two often confused?

The right of public performance is one of the many rights that songwriters have. When a songwriter "publishes" their songs--which essentially means they've put it out for public consumption--there are numerous rights that come into play. Any songwriter who is not familiar with those rights should get a book like Music, Money and Success by Jeff and Todd Brabec.

Basically, the owner of the copyrights has the exclusive right to perform their songs publicly for profit or to give someone else permission to do so. Since it’s impossible for any individual songwriter or publisher to go to every single music user in America and negotiate and issue licenses, we all joined together and formed ASCAP back in 1914 so that we could collectively work with music users. As I mentioned above, there are books on the market which will teach an aspiring songwriter everything they need to know about the business of music publishing.

What are the benefits of registering with a performing rights organization for artists' with self-released CDs who have no label, distributor, or management representation?

Any songwriter, whether they are signed to a record label or not, will need to register with a performance right organization in order to get paid for public performances of their songs. This mainly applies to radio and television performance royalties which can be very substantial. In actuality there are many songwriters who are not recording or performing artists at all.

Are songwriters who are not recording or performing artists to handle their rights differently? Why should they also register with a rights-organization?

This goes to a fundamental misunderstanding in the music business. Artists and songwriters are very often different people. Most of the songs that chart on the Billboard Hot 100 have multiple songwriters most of whom will never set foot on a stage or appear on a commercially released record. ASCAP deals exclusively with songwriters. An artist who does not write their songs will never need to join ASCAP as they are not entitled to be paid performance royalties for their sound recordings.

How does free music downloading affect performance royalties?

Since the American courts recently decided that we don't deserve a performance royalty for legal downloads free downloading really has no impact on performance royalties. ASCAP has respectfully disagreed with the court and will continue to pursue that royalty. The Performing Rights Organization of Canada (PRO), and the Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) have been granted the right to license downloads, and we very much hope that the American courts will see the logic in that decision.

For those of us reading that don't know, what is the logic in licensing downloads? How would this effect free-downloading sites and illegal downloading?

Basically what we’re faced with in the music industry is a set of rights that we were given nearly 100 years ago which are now being applied to a world which the people who created those rights could never have envisioned. Which right is more applicable to a download: the right of public performance, the right of reproduction, the right to distribute the music? An argument could be made for any of them, but what we believe is that ASCAP is the organization best suited to represent songwriters in the new digital realm. The free downloading sites typically have gotten permission directly from the copyright-holder to host the music, so they would be unaffected. Illegal downloading sites will continue unabated until we are given the tools necessary to shut them down.

What are the benefits of being a musician in Chicago and what are some challenges?

I moved here from New York about 10 years ago, and I can tell you that Chicago has the most vibrant music scene of any city I've seen. The level of musicianship; the constantly expanding club scene; the impact of colleges like Columbia and their music business programs; plus the fact that Chicago is a reasonably affordable city for musicians who are trying to get by on part-time jobs so that they can be available for gigs and touring, makes Chicago a great town in which to pursue a music career.

This interview was conducted by CAR Researcher Temple Schultz.

Shawn Murphy teaches music publishing at Columbia College Chicago, and was Midwest Director of Membership for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Here's a video on Artists House Music where Shawn talks more about his position and the functions of ASCAP.