SESAC and GMR’s Integration with Songview Reshapes U.S. Music Licensing

After years of fragmented and sometimes opaque data, music licensing stakeholders now have access to the most complete and comprehensive collection of U.S. music rights ever available.

Songview's platform, originally developed by ASCAP and BMI, has emerged as a critical resource for public performance licensing in the U.S. The recent integration of SESAC and GMR finally creates a single database that covers over 38 million works. This development means music professionals and legal teams have access to an authoritative reference point for copyright shares and performance rights.

Fragmented rights data has always posed compliance obstacles and created operational blind spots in the music industry. The addition of SESAC and GMR fills the last major gaps, transforming Songview into a near one-stop shop for accurate information on songwriter, publisher, and performance rights. This “single source” impacts both routine licensing and risk management.

Verifiable Evidence for Music Rights and Ownership

For licensees, legal stakes are high. Unclear or incomplete rights data can lead to underpayment claims and copyright infringement suits.

Songview’s reconciled and cross-confirmed records (with a visual “green check” confirming all-in PRO agreement) now offer some of the strongest documentary evidence in copyright due diligence, royalty clearance, and litigation contexts.

Prior to GMR and SESAC joining Songview, the platform only covered ASCAP and BMI. While ASCAP and BMI’s catalogs constitute the vast majority of copyrighted music compositions in the market today, SESAC and GMR each represent significant catalogs of iconic songwriters. GMR’s selective membership includes songwriters like Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, and Steve Perry of Journey; Bruce Springsteen; and James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett of Metallica. SESAC's membership includes Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Green Day, Kurt Cobain, Axl Rose, and Ariana Grande. Now that GMR and SESAC have joined Songview, licensees can verify the ownership of these crucial catalogs much more easily.

Reducing Exposure to Enforcement Actions

Incorporating SESAC and GMR data is not just an operational upgrade—it responds directly to Congressional pressure and Department of Justice consent decree mandates for ASCAP and BMI. Inaccurate, incomplete, or opaque rights data had previously exposed major PROs and their licensees to risk of regulatory enforcement and private legal challenges. With clear, reconciled data, licensees can much more reliably demonstrate compliance; rights holders can confidently assert and enforce their entitlements. GMR and SESAC traditionally provided public access to their catalogues, but integration into Songview advances matters by harmonizing that data with other PROs. For blanket licensees—a group spanning broadcasters, streaming platforms, and public venues—there is now unprecedented clarity. Blanket license coverage and catalog scope for all four major U.S. PROs are visible and easy to cross-check. This is especially valuable when determining if a song is fully or partially covered by a license, minimizing the risk of inadvertent infringement.

While the platform now includes all 100% owned works by GMR and SESAC, an upcoming enhancement will introduce publisher names on split works—another frequent stumbling block for licensees. Ownership percentages for these split works are also on the roadmap, and even this interim state provides more actionable data than has ever been available from siloed databases. Each step reduces legal ambiguity around liability and revenue division.

Minimizing Disputes and Litigation

For the first time, licensees, rights holders, and their attorneys can enter negotiations and potential disputes with reference to a public, reconciled, and PRO-endorsed dataset. If litigation does arise—over missed payments, alleged unlicensed use, or purported ownership conflicts—Songview records will play a prominent role in evidence and argument, shifting the balance in pretrial negotiations and in the courtroom.

With all parties referencing the same source, misunderstandings that once ballooned into expensive legal battles can now be resolved early. Expect to see more out-of-court settlements and administrative resolutions as a result, with Songview acting as both a legal reference and regulatory “safety valve.”

Compliance with Public Policy and Consent Decree Requirements

The expansion also reflects regulatory objectives: transparency, fair competition, and non-discriminatory treatment of music licensees are long-standing requirements of the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees. Songview’s comprehensive, reconciled database is a direct response, facilitating the monitoring, enforcement, and, importantly, the defense against enforcement, of statutory and regulatory duties.

Public officials have recognized this collaborative solution as a direct response to repeated calls for an authoritative industry database—one fit for oversight, investigation, and legislative review. House IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa (CA-48) said: “Our copyright system is the backbone of our creative economy, with clarity and transparency essential to ensuring creators have the compensation they deserve while licensees have the predictability they need. I congratulate ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR on the launch of a new and improved Songview to enhance clarity and transparency in music licensing.”

Practical Implications for Licensees and Rights Holders

Clear Royalty Pathways

For rights holders, the improved data environment supports speedier and fairer royalty allocation. No more misdirected payments or delayed settlements for “lost” or misattributed works. Licensees, meanwhile, can verify their obligations and run risk assessments with far greater confidence, especially when licensing complex or popular catalogs.

Making Litigation Less Likely

Accurate information acts as a lubricant for transactions and as a buffer against legal escalation. With SESAC and GMR included, licensees are less likely to find themselves unexpectedly in breach, and rights holders can focus enforcement efforts on genuine infringements—meaning resources are spent efficiently, and legal actions are more likely to be substantive than speculative.

An Ideal Resource for Private Dealmaking and Dispute Resolution

The improved clarity provided by the newly expanded Songview is beneficial even outside of the performance licensing ecosystem. For private parties, this extensive information on rights ownership may impact music catalogue sales by assisting potential investors in identifying catalogs to purchase, and it can enable litigants to identify intellectual property assets.

SESAC and GMR’s addition to Songview is more than just a technical or industry milestone; it is a watershed moment for legal certainty, regulatory compliance, and the future of music licensing. By consolidating rights data from all four major U.S. PROs into one reconciled, public database, Songview addresses not only operational headaches but also legal vulnerabilities at the heart of the industry. The result is a landscape where licensing is easier, litigation rarer, and compliance with both private contracts and public mandates far more reliable.