THROWBACTHISDAY, FEB 13; Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established

ASCAP was founded by Victor Herbert, together with composers Louis Hirsch, John Raymond Hubbell, Silvio Hein and Gustave Kerker, a lyricist Glen MacDonough, publishers George Maxwell (who served as its first president) and

Jay Witmark, and a copyright attorney Nathan Burkan at the Hotel Claridge in New York City on February 13, 1914, to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members, who were mostly writers and publishers associated with New York City's Tin Pan Alley. ASCAP's earliest members included the era's most active songwriters—Irving Berlin, 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.

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.

ASCAP and Manhattan School of Music summer campers participate in daily symphonic band rehearsals. Since 1999, the two institutions have partnered with to offer a free music camp for students who attend New York City's public schools.

The advent of radio in 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 more than 400%.

THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it 102 years and TBT Blog remembers.