ASCAP Kicks Off 100 Day Celebration of 100 Years

ASCAP, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, turns 100 in February. Today they kick off a 100 Day countdown with the launch of an interactive timeline celebrating the history of ASCAP. Teasing both a film, "Why We Create Music," and a collaborative music video, the timeline currently features an entry for its founding in 1914 and audio interviews with musicians from the film. Daily additions will make this a site worth revisiting.

Today's launch of ASCAP 100 Years: Film and Interactive Timeline starts a daily countdown for each year of ASCAP's history illustrated in multimedia.

Beginning in 1914 with the launch of ASCAP we have a picture of the founders (shown below), high points of the year for ASCAP, the world and music and a Spotify-powered track. Each day another mini-bundle will be shared making for quite possibly a rich historical resource.

The announcement explains what's up with the mystery movie, "Why We Create Music," which also resulted in a music video involving the participants. Directed by Michael Marantz, the film provides a "behind-the-scenes look into the creative process of a veritable
who's-who of today’s top songwriters and composers collaborating on an
original score":

"The film combines interviews and the musical gifts of 15 ASCAP members…Aloe Blacc, Claudia Brant, Carter Burwell, Amy Grant, Josh Kear, Savan Kotecha, David Lang, Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, Bear McCreary, Ne-Yo, Stargate (Tor Hermansen & Mikkel Eriksen), Dan Wilson and Bill Withers."

The launch of the site also has symbolic meaning for ASCAP beyond simply celebrating an upcoming birthday:

"Perhaps most importantly, the ASCAP100 site serves as a reminder of ASCAP's ability to adapt with changing technology and industry paradigms. When it was founded, ASCAP helped its members collect earnings from a single type of performance royalty; today, it tracks revenues from every type of public performance imaginable in an ever-increasing variety of platforms – from an underscore in a TV show, to radio, to live concerts, to myriad performances on licensed wireless and online platforms."

"As the number of performances promises to multiply in the century ahead, ASCAP's proven ability to adapt assures its members will be compensated for types of performances as unfathomable to them now as Spotify was to its founders."

Happy 100 Days!

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at Flux Research and Crowdfunding For Musicians. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.