A2IM is an organization that aims at improving business for independent music labels by promoting access and parity through advocacy, education, and network-building with one another and similar businesses within the industry.
Born in 1977 by the hands of a group of music publishers in Los Angeles, the AIMP has grown to become one of America’s lead associations for music publishers. It seeks to educate and inform music publishers (in particular independent ones) about contemporary trends and practices by giving them a forum to discuss issues, problems, opportunities and other relevant topics common to the music publishing industry.
The FMC is an American non-profit organization that supports a musical environment where artists can flourish and be adequately compensated for their work. FMC works to ensure that diversity, equality and creativity drives artist engagement with the global music community, and that these values are reflected in laws, licenses, and policies that govern any industry that uses music as raw material for its business.
The IAWM is a membership organization that fights against the discrimination and lack of equal opportunities for women in the music industry, particularly in composing, performing and research. They tackle this goal by raising awareness of the discrimination, which many times go unnoticed, fomenting opportunities for female music professionals and pushing the proper acknowledgement of the works of female artists.
IFPI is a global organization of which 1,300 record companies are member. It’s main goal is to improve the work conditions of record company workers by promoting the value of recorded music, promoting the rights of record producers and expanding the commercial use of recorded music.
The MIDEM is an annual event held in Cannes (France) where music business professionals can network. It is a center where artists, technologies and brands get together to innovate and create new trends.
The Music Business Association is an organization that pushes for the advancement of the music commerce, engaged in the full spectrum of monetization models for the music industry. Members are offered leadership and counseling from industry professionals among many other resources. It is also a gateway to many networking opportunities in this sector of the industry.
The National Association of Music Merchants is a non-profit organization that sets to promote the development and strengthen the industry of music, sound and performance products.
The NAMPA is set to promote the rights of performing arts managers and agents by playing a leadership role, developing professionals and form alliances in the performing arts industry.
The Recording Academy is most notable for having celebrated the world-renowned GRAMMY Awards for over 50 years. Its main purpose is to honour and applaud excellence in the field of recording arts and to support the music industry.
The National Association of Record Industry Professionals is dedicated to marketing and monetizing music. Since its conception in 1998, it has grown to become the largest music business network in the world with over 130,000 affiliates. It is a source of knowledge for record industry professionals, holding many seminars, workshops, and other opportunities such as A&R pitching sessions.
The National Music Publishers’ Association is the United States’ biggest trade association for music publishers. It is their mission to protect, promote and advance the interests of music creators.
The Recording Industry Organization of America is a national trade organization that is set to support the major music companies in order to maintain the vitality of the industry. They do this by fighting music piracy, recognizing excellence in the industry and maintaining the industry standards.
The U.S. Copyright Office, part of the Library of Congress was created in 1897 in order to maintain the records of copyright registration in the US. It is the world’s greatest database of copyrighted works and ownership information in the world.
The VLA is a non-profit organization set to give legal aid and education to any New York music artists and organizations. It aims at preserving the artistic community’s livelihood, business and creative works through education and legal representation.
Set in Nashville Tennessee, the WMBA is a membership organization that seeks to foster an environment where women can be provided with equal opportunities within the music industry. They do this through a combined effort of advocacy, education, network-building events, industry involvement, community service and organizational fellowship.
With 80,000 musicians subscribed to it, the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is the largest union for musicians in the world. It’s key objective is to represent the interests of professional musicians by negotiating agreements, protecting the ownership of copyrights, expanding social benefits to its members (such as healthcare and pensions), lobbying for new music legislation… The AMF seeks to raise the industry’s standard and they fight for music professionals to have the best possible working conditions and opportunities.
The Association of Performing Arts Presenters is an American national organization which takes care of informing performing artists about the music industry’s frameworks, as well as advocating for their rights and organizing networking events. APAP’s mission is to foment the development of the performing arts industry and of all the professionals within.
Chamber Music America is America’s national service which provides chamber musicians with information and other resources, as well as organizing events such as seminars and awards ceremonies. The CMA also connects musicians, presenters, managers and many other professionals involved in chamber music (orchestral, jazz, world…) through their yearly National Conference and their interactive website.
The Conductors Guild serves to promote the art of conducting music, be it for symphony, band, wind ensemble, chorus, opera or any other conductors. It strives to tackle key problems encountered by Music Directors nowadays by being a lighthouse of knowledge and information about the in-and-outs of the art and business of conducting, and by encouraging the exposure and growth of conducted ensembles. It serves both professional and amateur.
The CMA is dedicated to promoting the interest in Country Music in America (and around the world) in order to foment its competitiveness in comparison to other, more current genres. It provides a platform for country musicians, songwriters, managers and other professionals to interact and push towards common goals for the industry. They recognize excellence within country music and provide information and critiques from the country music industry.
The GMA aims at increasing the awareness of the Gospels through music, by supporting and celebrating Gospel and Christian music. Founded in 1964, the GMA has grown and now counts with a Foundation and the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, which aims at preserving the tradition of Gospel, and praise those who have achieved excellence in the genre. On top of this, the GMA Dove Awards aims at supporting current and up-and-coming Gospel artists to preserve the genre and keep the younger generations interested. They also hold a training program called IMMERSE, which teaches, trains and develops future artists, songwriters and music business professionals.
IEBA is a not-for-profit trade organization which aims at providing an unparalleled forum for the professional development of live entertainment industry professionals. It helps professionals buy, book and sell talent, all the while offering resources and networking opportunities to its members and increasing the growth and turnover of the live entertainment industry.
The ISPA is an international network which aims at connecting key leaders in the field of the performing arts all around the globe, connecting over 400 leaders and holding representation in 185 cities. Among the members, there are performing arts organizations, artist managers, competitions, funders, consultants and many other professionals. It holds a biannual congress, one in New York City and the other one in a different global city.
The League of American Orchestras key role is to empower, lead and raise awareness of orchestras around the US and the music that they do. Its membership encompasses 800 orchestras, ranging from world-class symphonies to amateur collectives and high-school orchestras. It is the only national organization which dedicates itself to promoting the full orchestral experience, offering managers, musicians, volunteers and boards a centre of knowledge and innovation, advocacy and training for leadership in the industry.
The NACA is the national organization that aims at increasing campus engagement in universities and colleges all around the US by promoting several events including leadership programs, concerts, diversity programs and much more.
Music Songwriters and Composers
The ACA aims at furthering the recognition and opportunities for both past and current composer members in the fields of chamber music, choral music, new music, opera, dramatic and theatrical music, electronic music, and orchestral music. It holds one of the biggest libraries of written music from American composers, with over 500 composers and 12,000 works.
ASMAC’s main goal is to fight for rights and better working conditions for arrangers and orchestral composers around the US, be it for film, advertisement or for arrangements for recorded music. It has become a center of education and exchange of ideas amongst arrangers, composers and other industry professionals related to the craft. ASMAC has also taken on the task of encouraging new talents through their development to ensure the continuity of the art of arranging and composing music.
BASCA is one of the largest associations in Europe for the representation of music creators. It works to protect the interests of songwriters, lyricists and composers as well as to celebrate and encourage excellence in these fields of the British music industry.
The Film Music Network is one of the largest worldwide consortium of music professionals who aim to place their music or compose it specifically for film and TV projects. Members range from composers, songwriters, bands, recording artists and many more. The Film Music Network provides his members with opportunities for their artists in projects such as film, TV, corporate videos, music libraries for music supervisors among others; as well as basic legal advice, discount on film tickets, access to their directory of film music agents and managers, access to their survey data and much more.
The Harry Fox Agency was established in 1927 by the National Publishers’ Association in order to give information and monitor the licensing of music copyright. Nowadays the HFA is North America’s biggest copyright manager, as well as offering licensing and royalty services.It pays a great service for the music industry, being the largest provider of mechanical licenses on behalf of music publishers for both physical and digital distribution.
Being founded in 1895, the MPA is the oldest standing organization dedicated to the trade of music in the USA. It acts as a platform for trade between publishers, dealers, music educators all the way down to music consumers. As a non-profit organization, its key focus is to foment the music publishing industry, in particular but not limited to print music for concert and educational.
The NSAI is an American non-for-profit association concerned with songwriters trade. Since its conception in 1967, the company has grown to include over 5,000 active members over 8 different countries. The NSAI’s main task is to empower and protect the rights of up-and-coming and professional songwriters across all the different genres of music.
New Music USA is a community that supports and promotes new music created in the United States, dealing with professionals all the way down the chain (composers, presenters, producers, fans…). They use the power of virtual networks and people to foster connection, deepen knowledge, encourage appreciation, and provide financial support for a diverse constituency of practitioners and appreciators.
The Society of Composers and Lyricists is set to further the interest of film and TV music professionals by disseminating information, pushing to enhance the workplace and encourage a sense of community among these professionals.
SoundExchange is engulfed in the task of developing business solutions that will benefit the entire music industry. It is a modern type of PRO that can collect digital performance royalties on behalf of the copyright holders. It sticks out for being an independent, not-for-profit organization.
Music Teaching
ASBDA’s mission has been, since its conception in 1953 by a broad group of school band directors, to promote, enhance and preserve quality school programs through leadership and fellowship of exemplary band directors throughout the United States.
The CMEA is a national organization set with the target of enhancing the music educational community by serving and connecting a great array of professionals who are passionate about the instruction of musical disciplines; as well as music students, parents and members from the community.
The CMS is an organization that is set to encourage the teaching and learning of music at a college level, with all it entails, musical creativity and expression, the research in new disciplines: diversity and integration, and the networking needed for future development. It brings together students and teachers from colleges, conservatories, universities and independent music schools throughout the country, providing leadership and advocating for change and improvement in the areas of concern that music students and teachers face.
An affiliate of UNESCO, the ISME is an international organization that aims at enhancing the experience of music by building and maintaining a world-wide network of music educators based on common understanding and support, and as well promoting the education of music for individuals of all ages in all relevant situations around the globe.
The Jazz Education Network is a global community that brings jazz closer to the masses by means of education, promoting performances and developing new audiences. The annual gathering fuels the conversation as students, teachers, pros and enthusiasts connect, learn, and jam to contribute to the distinctive art of jazz music.
MTNA’s role as an organization is not only to promote the professional and individual well-being of music-teaching professionals, but also to be a vital partner in their growth and development. It provides both a collective voice for teachers worldwide and a powerful alliance with a highly prestigious and influential group. Members reap the rewards of collaboration, continuity and connection throughout the lifetime of their careers.
The National Association for Music Educators is one of the largest arts education organizations in the United States, taking pride in being the only one of its kind to address all the various aspects of music education. It advocates for better opportunities for music education professionals at local, state and national scales, providing resources and information to for educators, parents and the school administrations. It holds many events around the country and even has a collection of different offers and opportunities both for students and teachers.
The National Band Association is an American conglomerate of professional bands that operates all around the globe. Its key goal is to promote the educational and musical importance of bands as well as seeking a high level of both excellence and exposure for bands and their music.
The SEM is an International association with a total membership of around 1,750 professionals who are dedicated to studying the different ways in which music has developed and affected mankind throughout history and different regions of the planet. The society studies the impact that music has had through many varied scientific lenses, from psychological to economic. The goal is to explore and educate how music has affected humans through its effect on cognition, emotion, language, dance, spirituality, the collective identity of different groups of people, politics, war, peace, economics, the mind and the body.
Music Therapy
The AMTA’s mission is the study and investigation of the therapeutic use of music in certain rehabilitation programs, education for special needs, and community settings in order to develop new methods and techniques. The AMTA is set to further its agenda of improving people’s lives through music therapy by educating and training professionals, individuals and parents, as well as by holding up professional standards, giving out credentials and furthering the research in this field of education.
The Canadian Association of Music Therapists (CAMT) is a federally incorporated, self-regulated non-profit professional association dedicated to fostering the practice of music therapy in clinical, educational, and community settings throughout Canada.
Music Technology and R+D
The AES is a society of professionals dedicated solely to the audio technology industry. The Audio Engineering Society’s mission is to promote the science and practice of audio by bringing leading people and ideas together, with professionals from as varied afield as audio engineers, creative artists, scientists and even students.
The AMP is an American national society formed in 1998 with the task of addressing common goals and concerns for music producers. It has taken the role of an educator of the practice of music production within its community, as well as within the production, advertisement and media communities.
The ARSC is a not-for-profit organization set up with the task of preserving and studying the craft of sound recording, in all genres of music and speech, in all formats, and across all periods in time. ARSC is unique in bringing together private individuals and institutional professionals—everyone with a serious interest in recorded sound.
The ESA is an association in America that is dedicated to servicing entertainment software companies (that is any company dedicated to making video games, be it for computer, console, phone, internet…) by representing their business and public affair interests. It represents these industry leaders across the nation and on the global stage.
The ICMA is a global association of professionals, as well as companies and institutions, that are in any way involved in the creation of computer music. It is set to empower and aid those professionals, be it composers, engineers, hardware developers or musicians, who work on the synchronization of music with technology.
SPARS is the 38 year old non-profit association representing professionals in the Recording Industry. The organization is dedicated to preserving the craft of professional recording by providing mentoring, education, networking and community to its members and the industry as a whole.
APRA is the leading PRO for the collection of publishing rights in the whole of Australia, representing over 95,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. It is the biggest It is a non-profit organization meaning that, after the administrational costs, all the money goes to the artists. It also holds offices and exerts its influence across New Zealand.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is an association joined by membership which comprises over 500,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers across all genres, and throughout the entire US. ASCAP has also many agreements with partner societies around the world, allowing them to represent hundreds of thousands of music creatives around the globe. This is the one Performing Rights Organization that is created and controlled by its members.
BMI acts as the platform and intermediary between the songwriters and the various types of companies that want to reproduce their creative works in public. One of the key players in music rights management worldwide, BMI advocates and fights for the fair pay and use of creative works, representing over 650,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers.
With its main offices in Berlin and Munich, GEMA is the German body in charge of the regulation of performance rights in Germany, collecting rights from businesses and distributing it to its members (songwriters, lyricists, arrangers and publishers). The GEMA also functions as a liaison between Germany and the European Union in the field of music copyright.
Founded in 2013 by industry veteran Irving Azoff, Global Music Rights is a very modern PRO based in America. It positions itself at the forefront of music rights management, leading the field in client services, technology, and rights advocacy.
IPRS’s business is to issue licenses to music users, as well as to collect royalties from them, for and on behalf of their members. As well as collecting publishing rights, the IPRS functions as a representative body for composers, lyricists and music publishers. It is worth noting that it is the only organization allowed to issue these sorts of licenses within the Indian territory.
The JASRAC is Japan’s number 1 Performance Right Organization, dealing with the collection and distribution of publishing rights in the name of authors, songwriters and publishers in the Japanese territory. They also work in coordination with foreign copyright societies in order to facilitate the collection of rights by those foreign PROs, as well as the collection of Japanese royalties outside of Japan.
The KOMCA is a not-for-profit copyright collective for musical works, being the main body in charge of the administration and regulation of public performance and broadcasting rights, as well as mechanical recording and reproduction rights. Being founded in 1964, it is the second Performance Rights Organization to have emerged in Asia (after Japan’s JASRAC).
The Music Copyright Society of China aims to provide registration for musical works in China, as well as issuing licenses for said works, collect royalties from music users on behalf of the owners of the rights and to ensure the protection of Chinese musical works outside of China (and of foreign musical works within the Chinese territory).
Established in 1934, PPL was created in order to ensure that artists were being paid adequately for their work in the form of royalties. Nowadays it is the UK’S main PRO for the collection of master rights. It has lately been working in coordination with PRS for Music, the other main UK based Performance Rights Organization in charge of the collection of publishing rights.
PRS for music is the UK’s leading PRO for the collection of publishing rights all across the country. UK songwriters who want to collect their royalties will have to be subscribed to PRS for music. Lately, it has been working in coordination with PPL, the other major PRO in the UK in charge of collecting master rights.
PRO Music Rights is the smaller of the American Performance Rights Societies, dedicated to the collection of publishing rights across the country. It works completely independently from ASCAP, BMI and SESAC.
SACEM is a French Performance Rights Organization that collects and distributes performance rights around the whole country, as well as French overseas departments and territories. It also takes on the tasks of protecting and defending the rights and interests of its members, not to mention the promotion and support that they give to the creation of new music in France.
SESAC is one of the world’s leading PROs (Performing Rights Societies), aiding songwriting and publishers to collect their well earned mechanical and publishing royalties. Their main Headquarters are in Nashville, though they also hold offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and London.
SGAE is Spain’s leading society when it comes to the collection of publishing rights within the territory. On top of this, it aims at empowering and pushing forward the interests of music creators all around the country.
The SIAE is the Italian rights collection agency. it is the monopolist intermediary between the authors of musical tracks and consumers, managing the distribution of money from royalties of Italian-copyrighted music to authors and on their behalf.
SOCAN is Canada’s leading Performance Right Organization. With over 150,000 songwriter and composer members, as well as 130,000 licensed organizations, SOCAN works in the collection of publishing rights within Canadian soil.
Sound is Canada’s main PRO for the collection of master rights. It aims at fairly distributing the royalties to working session musicians, background artists, as well as well-known stars, and works with both major and indie labels.
