A FRIEND IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS: THE ASCAP STORY Format: Hardcover. This item is unavailable.A FRIEND IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS: THE ASCAP STORY Format: Hardcover

(Book). On February 13, 1914, a group of the nation's most distinguished and popular songwriters gathered together in New York City to support the mission of ASCAP, a new organization for publishers and songwriters. A few years later, ASCAP received its mandate from the Supreme Court to collect royalties for the public performance of copyrighted material. Over the course of the next century, ASCAP has been as prominent a force for the advancement and nurture and financial well-being of songwriters as any record label or publishing outfit one would care to name. With a responsive board of directors made up entirely of songwriter/composer and publisher members, ASCAP has defended creators' rights at every turn against those who would seek to devalue music. Today, with copyright under renewed assault, its mission is as resonant and vital as ever, along with its relatively new role as a nurturer of the young artists who represent the future of music. Award-winning music writer Bruce Pollock explores the growth and changes within this complex society and its relationship to emerging technologies, in the context of 100 years of an ever-evolving music business, to see how ASCAP has become, for those who hope to make a living making music, now more than ever, "a friend in the music business."

Bruce Pollock (Fairfield, CT) has been called “the most important scholar of American pop music” by the late Greg Shaw. He is the author of 13 books, including Working Musicians: Defining Moments from the Road, the Studio, and the Stage and Rock Song Index. For 17 years he was the editor of Popular Music: An Annotated Index of American Popular Songs. His writings have appeared in Playboy, the New York Times, USA Today, and the Saturday Review.