But do you know whether or not the permission, once given, is non-revocable? Are these artists who are ASCAP members beholden, they can never object to a song's use once the fee is paid, even if, let's say, some known pedophile has served his time in jail, is now trying to sell something in a commercial advertisement and is using a popular hit, the artist has no ability to revoke permission?
This means that as an ASCAP member, you can expect a royalty every time one of your songs is played on the radio, at a public event or even covered by another performing artist, whether it is a major rock band in a stadium or a cover band playing a gig at the local nightclub.
As I wrote earlier, I had a huge brouhaha type of argument going on at another site, people accusing members of a band of "selling out" because a hit tune was used in an commercial, insisted that those men had to give personal permission to the car company in order to use the song. Not so, correct? So long as the royalties fee is paid, the tune is allowed use on the airwaves, the ad agencies are not ringing up each singer at dinnertime, right?
I do not believe this licensing applies to commercials, movies, TV shows, etc. Permission to use licensed music in that format appear to be outside the scope of ASCAP so if for instance, Coca-Cola wants to use a Neil Young song for a commercial, they will need to negotiate with Neil Young. But if a radio station or a convention hall wants to play a Neil Young song, all they have to do is pay ASCAP their fees.