ASCAP names Jackson Wagener head of general licensing from January
ASCAP has put Jackson Wagener in charge of its general licensing business from 1 January 2027.
The American performing rights organisation, which collects royalties when songs are played in public and pays them to songwriters and publishers, said Wagener will serve as Senior Vice President and Head of General Licensing. He will report to Stephanie Ruyle, Executive Vice President and Head of Licensing, ASCAP confirmed in its announcement on 23 September. ASCAP
General licensing is the part of the business that deals with shops, bars and other premises rather than broadcasters or streaming services. Wagener will oversee the team that licences ASCAP's repertory of more than 20 million musical works to restaurants, bars, hotels, airlines, fitness studios, live music venues and other establishments, according to Music Business Worldwide. Those fees flow back to writers and publishers as royalties.
Wagener is a 12-year veteran of the organisation. He has served as Senior Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs since 2020, after joining ASCAP as Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs in January 2014 from the New York office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Before that he was a commercial litigation associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York.
His training is in law and social science. Wagener is a graduate of Columbia Law School. He also holds an M.A. in Sociology and a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University.
The appointment sits inside a wider licensing leadership team. Hayley Dukes was promoted to Senior Vice President of Licensing in January 2026, also reporting to Ruyle. ASCAP represents more than one million songwriters, composers and music publishers.
Scale matters here. ASCAP said it paid out a record $1.76 billion to songwriters and publishers in 2025. It states it operates on a 10% overhead rate, which it describes as the lowest among US performing rights organisations. That figure is the share taken to cover operating costs before distributions.
For listeners, this is backstage work. No new songs are announced. But the licences Wagener's team handles decide how legally a bar, gym or concert room can play music, and how that use turns into pay for the people who wrote it.
