key people stephen swid chairman ceo website www.sesac.com sesac originally the society of european stage authors and composers 1 is a performance rights organization pro in the united states . since the organization stopped using its full name in 1940 it is now known exclusively as sesac . sesac was founded in 1930 making it the second oldest and also the fastest growing when p.r.o. in the united states . based in nashville tennessee sesac deals with all aspects of the business from creation to licensing and administration . the company also has offices in new york city los angeles london atlanta and miami . 2 sesac touts its small size if the phrase quality vs. quantity ever mattered sesac is the place . while sesac is the smallest of the three u.s. performing rights organizations size is its largest advantage . sesac prides itself on developing individual relationships with both songwriters and publishers . 2 whereas ascap and bmi operate on a not for profit basis sesac retains some income as profit . 3 while ascap and bmi distribute all income from performance royalties to their composer and publisher affiliates less an administrative fee sesac retains an undisclosed amount of performance royalty income . citation needed sesac is also unique among the u.s. performing rights organizations in that it does not offer open membership one must be approved to join . 4 history edit the society of european stage authors and composers was founded by paul heinecke a german immigrant in new york . sesac originally strove to support underrepresented european stage authors and composers with their american performance royalties hence the original name . heinecke continued to lead the company over the next four decades until his death in 1972 . as its original objective diminished in the 1960s the company entered other musical genres . since that time the company has represented a wider range of writers and genres . sesac s affiliates roster includes bob dylan neil diamond robert johnson bryan michael cox nate danja hills rush coheed & cambria young love the faint rapture and most recently mariah carey . 5 in the 1930s sesac helped broadcasters satisfy federal communications commission requirements supplying them with gospel recordings . the business began its evolution in the 1940s and in the 1950s sesac established its electrical transcription series . 6 the company moved into new headquarters in columbus circle in midtown manhattan and opened an office in nashville tennessee in 1964 . six years later the company began representing songwriters in addition to its traditional business of representing publishers . with a focus on christian songwriters the company was an early player in the contemporary christian music format . that evolution led the company to move its headquarters to nashville in 1985 . in 1993 the company was purchased by stephen swid freddie gershon and ira smith . the new owners once again shifted the company s focus toward more mainstream music and later television . references edit dow cindy 29 april 2010 . copyright issue brings an end to music at cafe . the standard times . new bedford massachusetts . retrieved 17 february 2011 . a b about us . sesac . retrieved on 2007 07 20 . music in the marketplace . better business bureau . retrieved on 2007 07 20 . how to affiliate . sesac . retrieved on 2007 07 25 . sesac repertory alicoate jack ed . 1950 . the 1950 radio annual . radio daily corp. p. 10 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sesac & oldid 732257438 categories companies based in nashville tennesseecopyright collection societieseconomy of nashville tennesseemusic industry associationsunited states copyright laworganizations established in 1930jazz record labelshidden categories vague or ambiguous time from september 2015all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from july 2007 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages portugu s edit links this page was last modified on 30 july 2016 at 18 00 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view