Performing Rights Organization (PRO) is a collective management organization that represents songwriters, composers, and music publishers, and licenses their music for public performance. ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GMR, and ALLTRACK are examples of PROs in the United States.
PROs in the United States, such as ASCAP and BMI, primarily collect royalties for public performance of musical works, such as on radio and TV broadcasts, live performances, and digital streaming services. These PROs generally do not collect mechanical royalties, which are paid for the reproduction of musical works. In contrast, most collective management organizations outside the US, such as PRS (UK), SACEM (France) and JASRAC (Japan), collect both performing rights and mechanical rights royalties, covering public performance as well as reproduction of musical works.
A small but growing number of organizations go even further by handling both the publishing side (performing and mechanical rights) and the master side (neighbouring rights) under one roof. ALLTRACK, based in Los Angeles, collects performing rights, mechanical royalties, and neighbouring rights for its members. The Brazilian collection society UBC similarly handles both publishing and neighbouring rights collection.