The copyright owner of a piece of music retains the right to directly assign the rights to use their music to any individual or entity, through what is known as a Direct License. This means that none of the performing rights organizations collect performance royalties for the performance of the work. Direct licensing is outlined in the agreement with the performing rights organization, which the composer signs, when they assign the licensing rights to the performing rights society. If you need clarification as to what the specific details are with the performing rights society in your particular country or region, you should contact them directly. The following is a partial list of the various performing rights societies, from countries around the world. _______________________________ United States ASCAP http://www.ascap.com/index.html BMI http://www.bmi.com/ SESAC http://www.sesac.com/home.asp Australia APRA http://www.apra.com.au/ Austria AKM http://www.akm.co.at/ Belgium SABAM http://www.sabam.be/gd/index.html Canada SOCAN http://www.socan.ca/ Chile SCD http://www.scd.cl/ Colombia SAYCO http://www.sayco.org/ Denmark KODA http://www.koda.dk/ Finland TEOSTO http://www.teosto.fi/teosto/webpages.nsf Greece AE http://www.aepi.gr/ France SACEM http://www.aepi.gr/ Germany GEMAPI http://www.gema.de/ Hong Kong CASH http://www.cash.org.hk/ India IPRS http://www.indiavibes.com/iprs/ Ireland IMRO http://www.imro.ie/ Israel ACUM http://www.acum.org.il/ Italy SIAE http://www.acum.org.il/ Japan J ASRAC http://www.jasrac.or.jp/ejhp/index.htm Mexico S ACM http://www.sacm.org.mx/ Netherlands BUMA http://www.bumastemra.nl/InterXtranet/bsinterxtranet/home Norway TONO http://www.tono.no/ Russia RAO http://www.rao.ru/ Singapore COMPASS http://www.compass.org.sg/website/ Sweden STIM http://www.stim.se/stim/prod/stimsajt.nsf Switzerland SUISA http://www.stim.se/stim/prod/stimsajt.nsf United Kingdom PRS http://www.prs.co.uk/