Do I need ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR?

Each PRO licenses only its own songs

The four US performing rights organizations (PROs) each say the same thing about their licenses:

• BMI: a license from another PRO “allows you only to perform copyrighted music represented by that organization”, because “each PRO licenses a unique repertoire of music” (BMI Music Licensing FAQs).
• SESAC: each organization “licenses only the copyrighted works of its own respective copyright holders” (SESAC FAQ).
• GMR: licenses with ASCAP, BMI and SESAC “do not grant you authorization” to perform music by GMR’s writers, “and vice versa” (Global Music Rights FAQ).
• ASCAP: “you need a license with each PRO that represents the creators of the music that you play” (ASCAP Music Licensing FAQs).

So the practical question is not “which PRO is the right one” but “whose songs are played here, and which licenses cover them”. A curated background music service changes the answer for the music it supplies; see Can I play Spotify in my restaurant or bar?

One song can need more than one license

Songs are often co-written by writers who belong to different PROs. The U.S. Copyright Office notes that the rights to musical works “are often split among multiple songwriters, with differing publishers and PROs” (U.S. Copyright Office, “Copyright and the Music Marketplace” (2015), p. 123).

The Department of Justice describes the result, called fractional licensing: a PRO licenses only its share of a work, “meaning that a licensee must obtain a license from all of the PROs affiliated with the work (or from the songwriters or publishers directly) in order to legally perform it” (DOJ statement closing its review of the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees (January 15, 2021), p. 2).

How the four differ

ASCAP and BMI operate under long-standing antitrust consent decrees with the Department of Justice; SESAC and GMR do not. The Copyright Office puts it this way: “neither SESAC nor GMR is subject to such direct antitrust regulation” (Copyright and the Music Marketplace, p. 34), and the DOJ notes the decrees “regulate only ASCAP and BMI” (DOJ statement, January 15, 2021, p. 2).

For a venue, the day-to-day point is simpler: each sets its own fees for bars and restaurants, and each needs its own license. How much does a music license cost? explains what drives those fees.

Look up which PRO represents a song

Each PRO publishes a free search:

Songview

A shared database that BMI describes as covering “the four major PROs, BMI, ASCAP, GMR and SESAC”, with ownership shares per song (Songview at BMI; also reachable from ASCAP’s repertory search).

SESAC

SESAC repertory search: titles, SESAC’s share, and its writers and publishers.

GMR

Global Music Rights search: by title, performer, songwriter or publisher.

A search tells you who represents a song, not whether your venue is licensed for it. Searching song by song is also impractical for a live band or a DJ, who can play hundreds of titles a night.