SESAC Celebrates 80th Anniversary
Performing rights society SESAC is celebrating its 80th anniversary, and the organization says that with eight decades of impeccable service provided to songwriter and music publisher affiliates, it is poised to continue as a leader in the protection of copyright owners’ rights as well as providing the highest level of services to the music user community and pioneering the use of new technologies for tracking airplay.
SESAC’s primary function is to license the musical works of the growing list of songwriters and music publishers it represents to various music user industries and to distribute those royalties to the copyright owners.
In 1930, a young musicologist and publisher named Paul Heinecke recognized the need to protect European composers who were not being adequately compensated for the performances of their music in the United States. With the encouragement of friends and colleagues, including distinguished musical figures like Victor Herbert, Enrico Caruso, Aaron Copeland and Maurice Ravel, Paul Heinecke founded SESAC.
”Since 1930 SESAC has been devoted to the interests of the creative community and increasing the performances of their copyrights,” said Pat Collins, SESAC’s President and COO. “We are very proud of what SESAC has accomplished over the past 80 years and we look forward to the future which, through advanced technologies, will bring even greater access to music and will aid in even more timely and accurate royalty payments to copyright owners. Over the coming years while technology continues to transform the delivery mechanisms for entertainment, intellectual property will become more important and further ingrained into the social fabric and SESAC plans to remain front and center of these innovations to provide world class services to intellectual property owners.”
Since its inception SESAC has established itself as a premier service provider to music creators and music users alike. In the early years of radio, SESAC proved to be a friend to broadcasters by providing transcription libraries for feature and background music to fledgling radio stations, a crucial and ground-breaking development for the nascent radio industry.
In 1992 the company was purchased from the Heinecke family by music executives Stephen C. Swid, Freddie Gershon, and Ira Smith. The acquisition marked the beginning of a new era for SESAC. In 1994, the company signed music icons Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond for worldwide representation, beginning a transformation of SESAC’s repertory that continues today. Currently SESAC boasts major hits including releases by RUSH, Jerry Cantrell, MGMT, Paul Shaffer, Cassandra Wilson, Bryan-Michael Cox, Shirley Caeser, Claudia Brant, Aleks Syntek, Fonseca, Erika Ender, Noel Schajris, Nate “Danja” Hills and Swizz Beatz among many others.
The list of artists who have performed SESAC-affiliated songs include Justin Timberlake, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Reba McEntire, Pussycat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, U2, Christina Aguilera among many others. SESAC also represents songwriters that create the music for many of the most watched television programs and movies displayed all over the world including such composers as Jeff Beal (Monk), Danny Lux (Grey’s Anatomy), Christophe Beck (We Are Marshall), Dennis C. Brown (Two And A Half Men), Jonathan Wolff (Seinfeld), Paul Buckley (Will & Grace), and many others.
Comments
By PJ Parker on February 3rd, 2010 at 10:11 am
Hello- I am a relatively new songwriter, and have registered songs with ASCAP. How does SESAC differ from ASCAP and BMI in terms of rights protection, and is tandem membership possible with SESAC, for its licensing features? I was somehow under the impression that one needed to be a Canadian resident for SESAC. True? If a switch would need to be made, what happens to the already registered works under the different PRO, and what is the process?
Thank You -PJ Parker