The U.S. Copyright Office launched an investigation into PROs in 2025 because nobody — not even songwriters — can verify how their royalties are calculated

In February 2025, the U.S. Copyright Office opened a formal inquiry into performance rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, AllTrack, and Pro Music) to investigate transparency, licensing efficiency, and fairness in royalty distribution. The inquiry was prompted by growing concerns that the proliferation of PROs — from three to six in recent years — has created an opaque, fragmented system where songwriters cannot independently verify whether they are being paid correctly. BMI accused newer PROs AllTrack and Pro Music of 'introducing informational opacity to the licensing marketplace' by not maintaining transparent databases of their repertoire. But the established PROs are not paragons of transparency either: distribution rule changes are buried behind confidentiality claims and protective orders, and no PRO publicly discloses the complete methodology by which individual songwriter payments are calculated from aggregate license fees. For a working songwriter, this opacity has direct financial consequences. A songwriter registered with ASCAP who co-wrote a song that gets significant radio airplay and streaming usage cannot independently audit whether ASCAP's payment for that song reflects the actual usage data. ASCAP and BMI use sampling methodologies and weighted distribution formulas that are not fully disclosed. If a PRO's internal system miscategorizes a song's genre, misattributes its writer share, or undercounts its performances, the songwriter has no practical way to discover or challenge the error. Royalty audits — which routinely uncover 10-30% underpayment — cost $5,000-$15,000 and require specialized forensic accountants, putting them out of reach for the vast majority of songwriters. The Alibi v. ASCAP lawsuit in 2025 highlighted how royalty allocation systems that creators are compelled to participate in are also systems they are forbidden from seeing, with distribution mechanics hidden behind protective orders even in litigation. The structural reason is that PROs operate as quasi-monopolies with captive memberships. A songwriter must affiliate with a PRO to collect performance royalties — there is no opt-out, no DIY alternative. Once affiliated, they are bound by the PRO's distribution rules, which can change without the songwriter's consent or even knowledge. The consent decrees that historically governed ASCAP and BMI were designed to prevent anti-competitive behavior, but they do not mandate granular transparency into payment calculations. The Copyright Office inquiry is the first systematic federal examination of whether the PRO system serves the interests of the songwriters it ostensibly exists to protect — but regulatory inquiries are slow, and any resulting reforms will take years to implement while songwriters continue operating in the dark.