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43-431: Morton Downey and Roberta Quinlan initially shared hosting duties on the 15-minute program, Carmen Mastren and The Chieftains provided music, and Bob Stanton was the announcer. Downey starred on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Quinlan was the star on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Because of the alternating hosts, the series was sometimes referred to as The Morton Downey Show and The Roberta Quinlan Show . Downey left

86-473: A "vote online" that makes up 50% of the judging criteria. The other 50% came from different music critics where in addition, ASCAP inducts jazz greats to its Jazz Wall of Fame in an annual ceremony held at ASCAP's New York City offices and honors PRS members that license their works through ASCAP at an annual awards gala in London, England. ASCAP also gives annually the special accolades Vanguard Award , Songwriter of

129-542: A composer. Beginning in 1986, ASCAP created the Golden Soundtrack Award to honor composers for "outstanding achievements and contributions to the world of film and television music." In 1996, it was renamed the Henry Mancini Award to pay tribute to the late composer's history of achievements in the field. ASCAP also bestows the near-annual Deems Taylor Awards to writers and music journalists. Named after

172-434: A compromise: when a song is played, the user does not have to pay the copyright holder directly, nor does the music creator have to bill a radio station for use of a song. In 2021, ASCAP collected over US$ 1.335 billion in revenue, distributed $ 1.254 billion in royalties to rights-holders, and maintained a registry of over 16 million works. ASCAP membership surpassed 900,000 and revenues exceeded $ 1.5 billion in 2022. ASCAP

215-614: A congressional investigation into the practice of payola in 1959. In the 1950s and 1960s, television was introduced as a new revenue stream for ASCAP, one that maintains its importance today. With the birth of FM radio , new ASCAP members, including John Denver , Jimi Hendrix , Quincy Jones , Janis Joplin , and Carly Simon scored massive hits. Many Motown hits were written by ASCAP members Ashford & Simpson , Marvin Gaye , Smokey Robinson , and Stevie Wonder . Both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones licensed their works through ASCAP, and

258-403: A dancer and actress gave way to her turbulent marriage with Downey. The couple married in 1929 and divorced in 1941. She married actor Addison Randall shortly afterward. Downey's second wife was Peggy Boyce Schulze (1922–1964), the former wife of Prince Alexander zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst and the granddaughter of Colorado mining industrialist William Boyce Thompson . Downey owned

301-414: A female voice. The popularity of such highly artificial and "heady" male pop vocals peaked in the late 1920s and early 1930s. By the mid-1930s, the style was out of fashion, and Downey reduced some of his broader mannerisms and made a transition to a somewhat more "chesty" vocal timbre. For a time in the 1920s, Downey sang with Paul Whiteman 's Orchestra. He first recorded in 1923 for Edison Records under

344-410: A foothold in that genre. At the same time, ASCAP member Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. started having country hits for ASCAP. By 1970, a new generation of ASCAP board members decided to launch a campaign to attract more songwriters and music publishers away from BMI. The campaign led to Motown Records switching most of its music publishing from BMI to ASCAP in 1971. During the last three decades of

387-692: A house at Squaw Island, Hyannis Port , Massachusetts, next to Joseph P. Kennedy 's house. John and Jacqueline Kennedy rented Downey's house in the summer of 1963. Downey's third wife was Ann Trainer, the widow of Howell Van Gerbig and the former wife of John Kevin Barry; they married in 1970. Downey died following a stroke in 1985 in Palm Beach, Florida, aged 83, and was buried in the local Catholic cemetery in his hometown of Wallingford, Connecticut. ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers ( ASCAP ) ( / ˈ æ s k æ p / )

430-434: A license, being considered a promotional vehicle for song sales. In 2009, Mike Masnick , the founder and CEO of Floor64 , accused ASCAP of keeping some royalties instead of passing them on to artists. He claimed ASCAP collects royalties from all sizes of live performance on behalf of all the artists it represents but passes on the royalties only to artists whose music is represented in one of "the top 200 grossing US tours of

473-466: A more relaxed approach. In September 1951, a review in the trade publication Billboard complimented Quinlan's performance and the show's visual presentation. It called the program "one of the really pleasant little musical quarter hours in television". Spurred by the success of its TV program, in the spring of 1951, Mohawk began a radio version, also titled Mohawk Showroom . Sponsor magazine reported, "The spot radio effort has grown partially out of

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516-506: A result of the shift, the number of stations carrying the program more than doubled. In the 1930s, he recorded for ARC , Hit of the Week , and Decca Records , and in the 1940s, he made records for Columbia Records . In 1949, Downey began appearing on television. He was host of the Mohawk Showroom on NBC three nights a week. It was also known as The Morton Downey Show on the nights he

559-872: A ringtone public performance. In statements to the press, ASCAP noted the following: On October 14, 2009, a federal court ruled that "when a ringtone plays on a cellular telephone, even when that occurs in public, the user is exempt from copyright liability, and [the cellular carrier] is not liable either secondarily or directly." The ruling made clear that playing music in public, when done without any commercial purpose, does not infringe copyright. (US v. ASCAP, US District Court, Southern District of New York). Further controversies arose involving ASCAP in 2009 and 2010. The organization requested that some websites pay licensing fees on embedded YouTube videos, even though YouTube already pays licensing fees, and demanded payment from Amazon.com and iTunes for 30-second streaming previews of music tracks, which traditionally does not require

602-412: Is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadcasters, and digital streaming services (music stores). ASCAP collects licensing fees from users of music created by ASCAP members, then distributes them back to its members as royalties . In effect, the arrangement is the product of

645-633: Is unable to negotiate satisfactory terms with ASCAP, or is otherwise unable to get a license, may go to the court in the Southern District of New York overseeing the consent decree and litigate the terms they find objectionable, and the terms set by the court will be binding upon the licensee and ASCAP. BMI also signed a consent decree in 1941. ASCAP's membership diversified further in the 1940s, bringing along jazz and swing greats, including Duke Ellington , Count Basie , Benny Goodman , and Fletcher Henderson . The movies also soared in popularity during

688-482: The Electronic Frontier Foundation , and Creative Commons , creating notable controversy as many argued that these licenses are a form of copyright and offer the artist an extra choice. Lawrence Lessig , a co-founder of Creative Commons, responded stating that they are not aiming to undermine copyright, and invited ASCAP for a public debate. The offer was turned down by ASCAP's Paul Williams . It

731-464: The Sherman Anti-Trust Act . The Justice Department sued ASCAP in 1937 but abandoned the case. The Justice Department sued again in 1941, and the case was settled with a consent decree in which the most important points were that ASCAP must fairly set rates and not discriminate between customers who have basically the same requirements to license music, or "similar standing". Also, anyone who

774-414: The 1920s brought an important new source of income for ASCAP. Radio stations originally only broadcast performers live, the performers working for free. Later, performers wanted to be paid, and recorded performances became more prevalent. ASCAP started collecting license fees from the broadcasters. Between 1931 and 1939, ASCAP increased royalty rates charged to broadcasters by more than 400%. In 2010, ASCAP

817-546: The 1930s and 1940s, and with them came classic scores and songs by new ASCAP members like Harold Arlen , Dee Libbey , Johnny Mercer , Cole Porter , Morton Gould , and Jule Styne . Classical-music composers Aaron Copland , Igor Stravinsky , Florence Price , and Leonard Bernstein brought their compositions into the ASCAP repertory in the 1940s. In the 1940s, it was common for ASCAP and BMI to send out field representatives to sign new songwriters and music publishing companies, as

860-474: The 20th century, ASCAP's membership grew to reflect every new development in music, including the funk , punk rock , heavy metal , hip-hop , techno , and grunge music genres. Creators ranging from Lauryn Hill and Dr. Dre to the Ramones , Slayer , and John Zorn joined. ASCAP launched a Latin membership department to serve ASCAP Latin writers— Marc Anthony , Joan Sebastian , and Olga Tañon among them–with

903-580: The Spanish-speaking world as their audience. In 1981, ASCAP prevailed against CBS in an eleven-year-old court case challenging the ASCAP blanket license. ASCAP licenses over 11,500 local commercial radio stations, more than 2500 non-commercial radio broadcasters and hundreds of thousands of "general" licensees (bars, restaurants, theme parks, etc.). It maintains reciprocal relationships with nearly 40 foreign PROs across six continents, and licenses billions of public performances worldwide each year. ASCAP

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946-573: The Year, and Publisher of the Year. In 1979, to honor composers of concert music (Classical) in the early stages of their careers, ASCAP created The ASCAP Foundation Young Composer Awards which, upon the death of ASCAP President Morton Gould in 1996, were renamed the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards to honor Gould's lifelong commitment to encouraging young creators as well as his own early development as

989-736: The copyrighted musical compositions of its members, who were mostly writers and publishers associated with Tin Pan Alley . ASCAP's earliest members included the era's most active songwriters, George M. Cohan , Rudolf Friml , Otto Harbach , Jerome Kern , John Philip Sousa , Alfred Baldwin Sloane , James Weldon Johnson , Robert Hood Bowers and Harry Tierney . Subsequently, many other prominent songwriters became members. Composers who could not read and write musical notation were ineligible for membership. This requirement, since dropped, excluded many songwriters in such genres as country . However, an exception

1032-603: The desire of dealers in non-TV markets for support like that furnished their brethren in TV territory via the Mohawk Showroom ". Quinlan starred in the radio version, which was 15 minutes long and ran three days per week. It initially ran for 13 weeks in 26 markets with plans for a second 13-week series in the fall of 1951 along with hopes for increasing the number of markets. Morton Downey John Morton Downey (November 14, 1901 – October 25, 1985), also known as Morton Downey ,

1075-425: The firms were not household names; one such ASCAP employee was Loring Buzzell , who later formed the music publishing company Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music . The rise of rock and roll derived from both country music and rhythm and blues music caused airplay of BMI licensed songs to double that of ASCAP licensed songs. ASCAP officials decided that the practice of payola was the reason. So ASCAP spearheaded

1118-720: The first president of ASCAP, Deems Taylor , they were established in 1967 to honor his memory. The Deems Taylor Award "recognizes books, articles, broadcasts and websites on the subject of music selected for their excellence." ASCAP attracted media attention in 1996 when it threatened Girl Scouts of the USA and Boy Scouts of America camps that sang ASCAP's copyrighted works at camps with lawsuits for not paying licensing fees. These threats were later retracted. However, it has drawn negative attention for cracking down on licensing fees on other occasions as well, such as when it demanded that open mic events need to pay licensing (even if most or all of

1161-428: The pseudonym Morton James ; the following year he recorded for Victor with the S.S. Leviathan Orchestra. In 1925, he began four years of recording for Brunswick Records . In 1926, he had a hit in the show Palm Beach Nights . Downey toured London, Paris, Berlin, New York City and Hollywood. He also began appearing in movies, including Syncopation (1929), the first film released by RKO Radio Pictures . Downey

1204-534: The show after the December 9, 1949, episode, and Quinlan became featured on each episode. At some point the Tuesday and Thursday segments were dropped, with broadcasts continuing at 7:30 p. m. Eastern Time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Each of the program's episodes had a theme (such as marriage or graduation) to which all of its songs related. Commercials were also tailored to the theme as much as possible. Roger Muir

1247-517: The songs are original). ASCAP has also been criticized for its extremely non-transparent operations, including the refusal to release attendance records for board members, the notes from board meetings, and the reasoning behind their weighting formulas which determine how much money a song or composition earns for use on television or radio. In 2009, an ASCAP rate court case regarding ringtones generated considerable public attention. Critics claimed that ASCAP may seek to hold consumers responsible for

1290-467: The stations played regional music and styles (like rhythm and blues or country) that had been rejected by ASCAP. Upon the conclusion of litigation between broadcasters and ASCAP in October 1941, ASCAP settled for a lower fee than they had initially demanded. In the late 1930s, ASCAP's general control over most music and its membership requirements were considered to be in restraint of trade and illegal under

1333-451: The very first country Grammy Award went to ASCAP writer Bobby Russell for " Little Green Apples ". During this period, ASCAP also initiated a series of lawsuits to recover the position they lost during the boycott of 1941, without success. The early 1960s folk music revival, led by ASCAP member Bob Dylan (later switched to SESAC ) made ASCAP a major player in that genre. Dylan's expansion into rock music later that decade gave ASCAP

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1376-427: The year." This is true in accordance with ASCAP's membership agreement, which states that top performing writers and publishers receive, "bonus incentives", which are taken from the untraceable revenue brought in by bars, nightclubs, and similarly situated venues. In June 2010, ASCAP sent letters to its members soliciting donations to fight entities that support weaker copyright restrictions, such as Public Knowledge ,

1419-868: Was also a songwriter whose most successful numbers include "All I Need Is Someone Like You", "California Skies", "In the Valley of the Roses", "Now You're in My Arms", "Sweeten Up Your Smile", "That's How I Spell Ireland", "There's Nothing New", and "Wabash Moon". He joined ASCAP in 1949. The famous tenor vocalist Bill Kenny idolized Downey, and it is believed that he was Kenny's biggest influence. The similarities in style can be heard in Kenny's earliest recordings with The Ink Spots . In 1930, Downey began making national radio broadcasts after opening his own nightclub (The Delmonico) in New York. He

1462-562: Was an American singer and entertainer popular in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, enjoying his greatest success in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Downey was nicknamed "The Irish Nightingale" . John Morton Downey was born in Wallingford, Connecticut , the fourth of six children of James A. and Bessie (Cox) Downey, a well-known family in both Wallingford and Waterbury, Connecticut . The grandson of Irish immigrants, he

1505-518: Was founded on February 13, 1914, by Victor Herbert , together with composers George Botsford , Silvio Hein, Irving Berlin , Louis Hirsch , John Raymond Hubbell , Gustave Kerker , and Jean Schwartz ; lyricist Glen MacDonough ; publishers George Maxwell (who served as its first president) and Jay Witmark and copyright attorney Nathan Burkan at the Hotel Claridge in New York City, to protect

1548-475: Was host. From 1950 to 1951, he co-hosted Star of the Family . Morton Downey was the father of television personality Morton Downey Jr. by his first wife, actress Barbara Bennett (1906–1958), the sister of actresses Constance and Joan Bennett , and with whom he ultimately had five children, four sons, and a daughter: Michael, "Sean" (John Morton Downey Jr. ), Lorelle, Anthony, and Kevin. Her early promise as

1591-494: Was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame . In 1940, when ASCAP tried to double its license fees again, radio broadcasters formed a boycott of ASCAP and founded a competing royalty agency, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). During a ten-month period lasting from January 1 to October 29, 1941, no music licensed by ASCAP (1,250,000 songs) was broadcast on NBC and CBS radio stations. Instead,

1634-570: Was known by his middle name because so many of his near relatives were named John. His father was the chief of the Wallingford Fire Department until a near fatal automobile accident necessitated his retirement. Downey began his singing career as a member of the choir of Most Holy Trinity Church in Wallingford. Downey's signature sound was a very creamy and very high-timbred Irish tenor , which an uninformed listener can easily mistake for

1677-499: Was made to admit Irving Berlin . In 1919, ASCAP and the Performing Rights Society of Great Britain (since 1997 known as PRS for Music ), signed the first reciprocal agreement for the representation of each other's members' works in their respective territories. Today, ASCAP has global reciprocal agreements and licenses the U.S. performances of hundreds of thousands of international music creators. The advent of radio in

1720-499: Was reported in April 2020, that songwriters and composers were facing delays in receiving royalties. This was delivered via a memo to hundreds of thousands of members from CEO Elizabeth Matthews, who said the global disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic was to blame. This raised contention as those critical of the announcement wondered why the pandemic at that time would affect payments related to

1763-466: Was the first U.S. PRO to distribute royalties for performances on the Internet and continues to pursue and secure licenses for websites, digital music providers and other new media. ASCAP honors its top members in a series of annual awards shows in seven different music categories: pop, rhythm and soul , film and television, Latin , country , Christian , and concert music . Awards are presented through

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1806-461: Was the producer; Clark Jones and Doug Rodgers were the directors. The show originated from WNBT . A review of Downey's show in The New York Times said that most episodes of the show provided "a program with both pace and variety". The review complimented Downey's performance but said that he should not "try to incorporate too much extraneous 'business'", because he came across better with

1849-664: Was voted America's "Radio Singer of the Year" in 1932. At the time, Downey was featured nightly on the Camel Quarter Hour radio broadcast. On February 5, 1945, his transcribed program Songs by Morton Downey moved from the NBC Blue Network to the Mutual Broadcasting System . The move came after Blue Network officials adopted a policy "against the use of transcriptions for network originated programs, except where technical difficulties void live broadcasts." As

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