ASCAP Names John Pershing as New Chief Technology Officer

NEW YORK, September 9, 2025 - The American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has named John Pershing as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), effective September 22. Pershing brings a wealth of experience to ASCAP as a forward-thinking and transformative technology leader with deep expertise leading corporate IT teams to drive business growth.

ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews commented, "ASCAP is excited to bring John on board as we continue to drive innovative global technology solutions that benefit our songwriter, composer and publisher members as well as our licensees. He will be instrumental as we harness the power of AI in exciting new ways to create growth, solve market needs, and advance efficiencies."

Added Pershing, "ASCAP has a future forward approach to developing technology initiatives that drive industry solutions. It is especially exciting to join the team at a time when there are so many new opportunities to innovate in service of ASCAP's strategic goals across the organization."

Pershing comes to ASCAP from What If Media Group, a performance marketing company enabling brands to acquire customers at scale, where he served as CTO and Head of Product since 2019. At What If Media Group, Pershing was responsible for all IT functions, including software, product and data engineering, corporate IT structure and operations, information security and more. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Software Engineering at 1010data, a big data analytics company.

About ASCAP

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a membership association of more than one million songwriters, composers and music publishers, and represents some of the world's most talented music creators. Founded and governed by songwriters, composers and publishers, it returns nearly 90 cents of every dollar collected to its members as royalties and has the lowest overhead rate of any U.S. PRO. In 2024, ASCAP reported record-high financial results of $1.835 billion in revenues and $1.696 billion available in royalty distribution monies to its members. Over the last nine years, ASCAP has delivered a 7% compound annual growth rate for total revenues, and an 8% compound annual growth rate for total royalty distributions to members. ASCAP licenses a repertory of over 20 million musical works to hundreds of thousands of businesses that use music, including streaming services, cable television, radio and satellite radio and brick and mortar businesses such as retail stores, hotels, clubs, restaurants and bars. ASCAP collects the licensing fees, and identifies, matches, processes and pays royalties to its members for trillions of performances every year. The ASCAP blanket license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. ASCAP puts music creators first, advocating for their rights and the value of music on Capitol Hill, driving innovation that moves the industry forward, building community and providing the resources and support that creators need to succeed in their careers. Learn more and stay in touch at https://www.ascap.com, on XandInstagram@ASCAP and onFacebook.

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CONTACT:

Lauren Iossa, ASCAP

liossa (at) ascap.com

Haley Buske, ASCAP

hbuske (at) ascap.com