ASCAP Reaches Deal With Nielsen on Access to Enhanced Performance Data

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers said it reached agreement with Nielsen to improve reporting of music industry data. Nielsen agreed to give ASCAP “expanded” U.S. radio airplay data, including metadata and unique identifiers for recordings. The Nielsen data, when combined with ASCAP’s membership and copyright data, will significantly improve the transparency of information provided to ASCAP members, the performing rights organization said. The linkage to unique identifiers will particularly improve the potential for accurately reporting royalty information, ASCAP said. “Nielsen’s data will bring additional frequency and breadth to ASCAP’s reporting, enabling ASCAP’s members to have a 360-degree view of the performance landscape for their music, while enabling faster and more accurate reporting and tracking across all platforms,” said ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews in a news release. “This deal also sets the stage for us to provide our members with new business intelligence tools with predictive analytics components.”