ASCAP vs BMI: Which to Join and How to Collect Your Songwriter Royalties

This guide is for independent songwriters and artists in the US. It compares ASCAP and BMI, the two biggest performing rights organizations (PROs). Then it covers the rest of the setup that pays you for your songwriting: the publisher share, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) and your live shows.

Your distributor pays you for your recordings. Your songs earn other royalties when they're played on the radio, streamed or performed in a venue. You collect that money by signing up with the organizations that pay it and registering each song.

TL;DR

• ASCAP and BMI both collect performance royalties for songwriters, and both are currently free to join as a writer.

• Without a publisher, you collect the publisher share yourself. BMI pays it through your writer account, and at ASCAP you join as a writer and a publisher in one application.

• If no publisher or administrator handles your songs, also join the MLC, which collects mechanical royalties from US streams and downloads, and register your songs there.

• Register every song with your PRO, listing every co-writer and the split you agreed on.

• After each show, report your setlist through BMI Live or ASCAP OnStage, so the songs you play live can earn royalties.

Table of contents

• Should you join ASCAP or BMI?

• What ASCAP and BMI collect for you

• ASCAP vs BMI compared

• How to join ASCAP or BMI

• Register every song with your PRO

• Join the MLC for streaming royalties

• Royalties for playing your own songs live

• Keep a record of every show

• Common mistakes to avoid

• Common questions

Should you join ASCAP or BMI?

Pick BMI if you have no publisher and want the publisher share paid to you with no extra setup. Pick ASCAP if you want a member-run not-for-profit, and join it as a writer and a publisher at once so it pays you both shares.

The US has other PROs too, such as SESAC, GMR and AllTrack. SESAC says it's invitation-only and doesn't accept unsolicited submissions. ASCAP and BMI each represent over a million songwriters, composers and publishers, and both take applications from songwriters online.

What ASCAP and BMI collect for you

Both organizations collect performance royalties from businesses that play music, such as radio stations, clubs and streaming services. They pay that money to songwriters and publishers.

Each performance royalty is paid in two equal halves, the writer's share and the publisher's share. If you haven't signed a publishing deal, you're your own publisher, and you're owed both halves for your part of each song.

A PRO doesn't collect everything your music earns:

• The recording: your distributor pays you for streams and sales of the recording itself. When it plays on satellite or internet radio, SoundExchange pays the artist and the owner of the recording, as our guide to getting your music on the radio explains.

• Mechanical royalties: streams and downloads in the US earn these for the song, and the MLC collects them.

• Sync fees: a film, show or ad pays a license fee to use your song. Getting your music into film and TV covers how placements work.

Royalties are one of several ways your music can pay, and how musicians make money covers the others.

ASCAP vs BMI compared

Some older guides still list writer fees from before ASCAP suspended its fee and before BMI dropped its own in March 2025.

BMI says it pays self-published writers both the writer and publisher royalties. A separate BMI publishing company is optional, for a one-time fee of $175 as an individual.

At ASCAP, the publisher share goes to publisher members, so you collect it by joining as both a writer and a publisher. ASCAP currently waives the $50 publisher fee when you join as both in one application, and calls this a temporary policy. Joining as a publisher on its own, or adding it later, costs a one-time $50.

ASCAP's board is elected by its writer and publisher members, and ASCAP describes itself as the only not-for-profit PRO in the US. BMI moved to a for-profit model, and an investor group led by New Mountain Capital completed its purchase of BMI in February 2024.

How to join ASCAP or BMI

The MLC publishes a to-do list for songwriters. If you handle your own publishing, it lists three sign-ups: a PRO as a writer, a PRO as a publisher, and the MLC. At BMI, the publisher step is optional.

To apply, start the writer application online at ASCAP or BMI, and have these ready:

1. Legal name and the name you perform under.

2. Contact details and date of birth.

3. Tax ID, usually a Social Security number for an individual in the US.

4. A government-issued ID, which ASCAP checks during its application.

If you've joined a PRO before, check that membership first, because you can be a writer member of only one US PRO at a time. Once you're accepted, keep the member number and IPI number you're given with the rest of your music paperwork.

Register every song with your PRO

After you join, register each song in your account, through ASCAP Member Access or BMI Online Services. For each one, you'll enter the title, every writer with their share, and any publishers. List every co-writer, including the ones who belong to another PRO.

Agree on the shares with your co-writers before anyone registers, and put them on a split sheet. Each writer then registers that split at their own PRO. BMI counts shares out of 200%, so its form can show different numbers from ASCAP's for the same split.

Register a new song when you send its release to your distributor, and add that step to your release checklist. Songs you released before you joined need to be registered too.

That MLC to-do list also has you register each song in three places: your PRO, the MLC and the US Copyright Office. A PRO registration doesn't register your copyright, and how to copyright a song covers that filing.

Join the MLC for streaming royalties

Streams and downloads in the US also earn mechanical royalties for the song. The MLC collects them from the streaming and download services that license through it, and pays its members every month. It doesn't replace your PRO or SoundExchange, which collect other royalties, so you need both a PRO and the MLC.

Self-published songwriters, with no publisher or administrator, should become members, according to the MLC. Joining the MLC costs nothing, and you register your songs in its Member Hub. Publishers and administrators register the songs they manage, and their writers can still sign up to see their catalog in the Songwriter Hub.

Search the MLC's Missing Member Lookup before you register. It lists songwriters and publishers who aren't members yet and may be owed mechanical royalties from the US.

Royalties for playing your own songs live

PROs collect fees from venues that put on live music, including bars and clubs. BMI says it pays concert royalties for the top 300 tours each quarter, which it identifies from outside concert data. Smaller shows can get counted when you report them yourself through BMI Live or ASCAP OnStage.

• BMI Live: BMI says it's open to all BMI songwriters, in any size of venue in the US, including local bars, restaurants and clubs. You report shows online or in BMI's mobile app, and BMI pays them quarterly.

• ASCAP OnStage: writer members submit setlists through Member Access, with a deadline each quarter. You need direct deposit set up for your ASCAP royalties to file. One submission credits all the songwriters and publishers entitled to a share of the songs you played.

You'll enter the venue, the date and the songs you played. Both programs have deadlines, so send in each setlist soon after the show. Bandmates who wrote songs in the set and belong to another PRO file it there. Hypebot, a music-business news site, notes that reporting doesn't guarantee a bigger payment.

Keep a record of every show

Our guide to making a setlist suggests keeping each one with its show date. Add the venue's name and address, which BMI Live asks for.

If you list your shows on your own website, the dates and places are already in one list. On a Noiseyard site, the gigs page can keep past shows under "Previous", with the date and location you entered for each.

Common mistakes to avoid

• One membership for the whole band. Each songwriter joins a PRO on their own, and bandmates can belong to different ones.

• Different shares for the same song. Agree on them in writing first, so every co-writer registers the same split.

• Titles and names that don't match. Spell each song title and writer name the same way at your PRO, the MLC and your distributor.

• Statements you never read. Read each quarter's statement, and if a song you know gets played earns nothing, look at how it's registered.

Common questions

Can I join both ASCAP and BMI?

No. As a songwriter, you can belong to only one US PRO at a time. You can move to the other one later, under the rules for leaving in your membership agreement.

Do I need a PRO if my music is only on Spotify?

Yes. Streaming services pay performance royalties for songs to the PROs, and mechanical royalties to the MLC.

How long do ASCAP and BMI take to pay?

Several months. ASCAP pays writers for January to March US performances in October, and BMI pays in February, May, August and November. The MLC pays monthly, about 75 days after the end of each month of streams and downloads.

Do I need a publisher?

No. Publishers are companies that manage song catalogs for songwriters, and both PROs let you collect the publisher share without one.

Does ASCAP or BMI pay more?

You can't tell in advance. Each one turns plays into payments with its own formulas, which differ by the type of use.

What if I live outside the US?

Start with the performing rights society in your own country, as the MLC advises writers based outside the US. For streaming mechanicals, the MLC says you may be able to join it directly or have a society at home collect from it.