ASCAP Names Jackson Wagener Head of General Licensing

ASCAP has named Jackson Wagener to the role of Senior Vice President and Head of General Licensing. Wagener's new position will officially take effect on January 1, 2027. Before this appointment, Wagener joined ASCAP in January 2014 as Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs, arriving after leaving Greenberg Traurig LLP. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School. In addition to his legal degree, Wagener holds a master's degree in sociology as well as a bachelor's degree in human biology from Stanford University. In related licensing leadership changes, Hayley Dukes was promoted to Senior Vice President of Licensing in January 2026.

ASCAP serves as the only not-for-profit performance rights organization in the United States, representing more than one million songwriters, composers, and music publishers. Financial figures from 2025 show that ASCAP paid out a record 1.76 billion dollars directly to songwriters and publishers.

In 2025, the organization saw its total revenues increase by 6 percent on a year-over-year basis, reaching 1.945 billion dollars. ASCAP also expanded its membership base during that same year, adding more than 80,000 new members. With the addition of those members in 2025, the total number of members represented by the organization surpassed 1.1 million.