# BMI vs. ASCAP Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bmi-vs-ascap-question/708225 "2014-12-26T18:06:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bmi-vs-ascap-question/708225/1 "2014-12-26T18:06:10Z")
Our local theater group has asked me to be the sound engineer for their next play. One of my duties is to come up with the pre-show, intermission and post-show music. I found out the theater group has an ASCAP license, so I need to avoid BMI published music. Is there a simple way to determine whether a piece of music was published by BMI or ASCAP? I went to the ASCAP website but there is no way I could find to query their database of published works. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bmi-vs-ascap-question/708225/2 "2014-12-26T18:20:20Z")
You can search the ASCAP database [here](https://www.ascap.com/Home/ace-title-search/index.aspx). ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bmi-vs-ascap-question/708225/3 "2014-12-26T18:28:17Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > You can search the ASCAP database [here](https://www.ascap.com/Home/ace-title-search/index.aspx). Thanks! Ignorance fought.