ASCAP Repertory Scraper

Scrape the ASCAP ACE Repertory — the public searchable database of 13+ million musical works maintained by ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). Find songs by title, performer, writer or publisher and get complete work records: writers, publishers, ASCAP work IDs, ISWCs, alternate titles, performer counts, and ASCAP/BMI share splits. The definitive source for music licensing research.

What this actor does

• Six modes: search (any field), searchByTitle, searchByPerformer, searchByWriter, searchByPublisher, byWorkId (direct lookup by numeric ASCAP work ID)
• Repertory universes: Songview (ASCAP + BMI combined), ASCAP only, or ASCAP 100% controlled works
• Full work detail: title, performers (with primary performer), writers, publishers, work ID, ISWC, alternate titles, performance/writer counts, ASCAP & BMI shares (including the "other society" writer/publisher shares and the human-readable share split messages)
• Party detail: every writer and publisher on the work with IPI number, party ID, society (ASCAP/BMI), role, lie mandate start date and contact details where available
• Source links: every record links back to its ACE Repertory page plus the canonical ACE API resource URL
• Filters: keyword on work title, alternate-titles match, result cap
• Empty fields are omitted

Data Source

ASCAP's ACE Repertory — https://www.ascap.com/repertory — the public searchable database of musical works in the ASCAP repertory (plus, through the Songview project, works shared with BMI). The repertory's JSON API (ace-api.ascap.com) is guarded by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and can only be queried the way the website's own single-page app does it: by first minting a reCAPTCHA-scoped session token in a real browser. This actor drives the public SPA in headless Chromium, performs the same searches a visitor would, and captures the API responses the SPA receives — no account, login or API key is required. This actor is not affiliated with ASCAP.

Output per work

• workId — ASCAP work ID (e.g. 310026950)
• workTitle, workTitleTypeCde, iswc (ISWC code)
• alternateTitles[] — alternate title spellings/versions
• performers[], primaryPerformer
• writers[] — writer full names
• publishers[] — publisher full names
• interestedParties[] — full detail per party: fullName, roleCde (W/P), ipiNaNum, partyId, societyName, payIndicator, lieMandateStartDate, partyApiUrl, address, phone, email
• association, sourceOfOrigin — ASCAP / BMI society info
• performerCount, writerCount
• totalAscapShare, totalBMIShare, totalWriterAscapShare, totalWriterBMIShare, totalPublisherAscapShare, totalPublisherBMIShare, otherAscapWriterShare, otherAscapPublisherShare
• totalAscapShareMessage, totalBMIShareMessage — human-readable share split lines
• reconStatus, disputeFlag, specialPaymentIndicator, holdIndicator, lieFlag
• partyName — originating party (performer/writer/publisher modes)
• sourceUrl (ACE page URL), apiResourceUrl (ACE API resource), recordType: "work", scrapedAt

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	search	search / searchByTitle / searchByPerformer / searchByWriter / searchByPublisher / byWorkId
query	string	all of me	The value to search for
workIds	string[]	[310026950]	Numeric ASCAP work IDs or ACE work URLs (mode=byWorkId)
searchField	string	title	Field used when mode=search
universe	string	SVW	Repertory universe: Songview / ASCAP / ASCAP 100%
includeAlternateTitles	bool	false	Also match works by their alternate titles
containsKeyword	string	–	Keep only works whose title contains this substring
maxResults	int	10	Hard cap (1–100)
proxyConfiguration	object	off	Optional Apify proxy for blocked regions/IPs

Example: search works by title

{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "all of me",
  "maxResults": 20
}

Example: everything a writer has written

{
  "mode": "searchByWriter",
  "query": "max martin",
  "maxResults": 50
}

Example: all works performed by an artist

{
  "mode": "searchByPerformer",
  "query": "andra day",
  "containsKeyword": "christmas"
}

Example: a publisher's catalog

{
  "mode": "searchByPublisher",
  "query": "concord arch songs",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Example: lookup specific works by ASCAP work ID

{
  "mode": "byWorkId",
  "workIds": ["310026950", "310177270"]
}

Use cases

• Music licensing & sync — clear a song for film/TV by pulling its writer and publisher splits
• Royalty administration — find the ASCAP work ID and IPI numbers needed for registration and claims
• Catalog research — map the full works of a writer, performer or publisher
• M&A due diligence — audit publisher catalogs and share percentages
• Metadata enrichment — add ISWCs, alternate titles and performer lists to music databases
• Copyright compliance — verify work ownership and society association before reuse

Limitations

• Browser required — the ACE API is guarded by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and can only be queried the way the website's own SPA does it; the actor drives the public SPA in headless Chromium. No account, login or API key is required.
• Record completeness varies — the source returns whatever the public database holds: some works have no recorded performers, and numeric-only performer entries (stored as IDs) are omitted.
• Non-Latin titles may render as ? — the ACE service itself renders most non-Latin titles with placeholder characters in results; records are still returned with full work IDs and source links.
• maxResults is capped at 100 — and a single ID can match several registrations (alternate versions of the same song), all of which are returned.
• Proxy may be needed in blocked regions — the optional proxyConfiguration can be used when the SPA is challenged from specific IP ranges.

FAQ

What is the ASCAP Repertory (ACE)? ACE ("ASCAP Clearance Express") is ASCAP's public search engine covering the songs in the ASCAP repertory plus, through the Songview project, works shared with BMI. Data includes song titles, writers, publishers, performers and ownership shares.

Is this affiliated with ASCAP? No. This is a third-party actor that queries the public ACE Repertory search. ASCAP is not affiliated with this actor.

What does universe mean? SVW searches the combined Songview repertory (ASCAP + BMI), ACE the ASCAP repertory, and ASCAP works that are 100% controlled by ASCAP and its members.

Why do some records lack performers or shares? The source returns whatever the public database holds for that work — some entries have no recorded performers, and numeric-only performer entries (stored as IDs) are omitted.

How do I get a specific work by ID? Use the dedicated byWorkId mode with the numeric ASCAP work ID (or a full ACE work URL). A single ID can match several registrations (alternate versions of the same song) — all are returned.

Can I search in non-Latin scripts? Search terms like Japanese or accented characters are accepted, but the ACE service itself renders most non-Latin titles as ? characters in its results — records are still returned with full work IDs and source links.

How fresh is the data? ACE is updated continuously from ASCAP's registration systems; every run queries the live service at run time.

Why can maxResults return fewer works than requested? Filters (containsKeyword) and empty result sets reduce the count; the actor also stops early when the party's published work list is exhausted.