ASCAP Licenses Rhapsody; Presents Combustion Writers in Chicago
News from ASCAP this morning includes a new licensing agreement with Rhapsody, and a concert in Chicago by Combustion Music writers.
ASCAP recently teamed with Black Label Entertainment to present the Circle Sessions at Joe’s Bar in Chicago featuring the writers of Combustion Music. Black Label is bringing the songwriters-in-the-round concept to the Windy City and celebrating the writers behind the hits. Playing to a standing room only crowd were Combustion tunesmiths Brett James, Ashley Gorley, Chris Farren and Matt Jenkins.
Pictured (L-R): Kenley Flynn (Combustion), Kelsey Maynard (Joe's Bar), Ryan Allen (Black Label Ent.), Mike Abramson (Black Label Ent.), Chris "the Falcon" Van Belkom (Combustion), Ashley Gorley, Matt Jenkins, Chris Farren, Brett James, and LeAnn Phelan (ASCAP).
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ASCAP and Rhapsody have reached a new agreement for the Rhapsody subscription streaming music service that covers licensing for 2012 and 2013. The license allows Rhapsody to publicly perform the works of more than 430,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members of ASCAP.
Although Rhapsody has been licensed since its inception, the new agreement is ASCAP and Rhapsody’s first independent agreement since Rhapsody’s separation from long-time parent company, RealNetworks, in April 2010.
Rhapsody was the first subscription music service, launched in December 2001. Today, it is the largest premium subscription music service in the United States, with more than 1 million paying subscribers and more than 14 million tracks.
In recent months, ASCAP also concluded agreements with other digital streaming services including Netflix and Hulu.
