About ACA

The original and continuing mission of ACA is to publish and distribute music by its composer members of the past and present, and to support and promote performances of their ACA works.

The American Composers Alliance, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) educational organization that includes American Composers Edition and Composers Facsimile Edition, music publishing imprints affiliated with Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). The company was incorporated in 2005 and became a public nonprofit organization in 2007.

In 1937, the American Composers Alliance (ACA) was first formed as an independent licensing association, to represent American-born or naturalized composers whose music was based on classical, not popular styles. In 1944, ACA became affiliated with the newly-formed Broadcast Music Inc.

After 70 years in service, the ACA catalog of musical works on deposit with ACA included more than 11,000 works by more than 250 composers, including works from every year since 1905. A long term digital scanning project was begun in 2008, to begin offering a substantial portion of the historical ACA collection through online subscriptions and sales of printed and electronic scores to customers all around the world.

In 2000, ACA joined with Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland (SCPA) to preserve ACA music score masters in a state-of-the-art research archive. The masters and copies deposited with ACA have been donated to SCPA for professional preservation, and for ongoing future access for students, researchers, and performers, while the scanning and digitizing of the scores continues on an ongoing basis as funding will allow.

As a music publisher, ACA was the first, and remains one of the only companies to offer representation for ACA composers’ entire oeuvre of works, not just a selection or single pieces. As music publishing strategies changed over the years, ACA’s publishing mission has remained relevant and useful for generations of American composers.

In the 1970s, ACA leaders established the recording label Composers Recordings, Inc (CRI), as well as the American Composers Orchestra. Both organizations quickly grew to become independent companies dedicated to bringing American music to the public’s attention. In 2006, the CRI catalog became part of New World Records, and the many ACA works recorded on the CRI label over the years remain available on CD, download services, and through DRAM, the Database of Recorded American Music, available through New World’s subscription services.

ACA continues its mission of keeping scores of music by American composers in print and available to the public through sheet music publication services, through managing and licensing the music in the ACA catalog for various professional uses, and through its ongoing series of live concerts.

As a nonprofit educational institution, there is no single owner of ACA. It is governed by an elected Board of Governors, and all proceeds and contributions are recycled back into the organization’s general operations and special projects. As such, members are encouraged to participate in discussions and decision-making, and to join or organize committees of members to promote and encourage performances and recordings of ACA-published works, and in turn, become part of the legacy and active history of the organization.

ACA currently publishes music by  T.J. Anderson, Elizabeth Austin, Elizabeth Bell, Allan Blank, Barney Childs, Robert Evett, Miriam Gideon, Robert Helps, Otto Luening, Robert McBride, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Daniel Pinkham, Ronald Roseman, Dane Rudhyar, Elliott Schwartz, Halsey Stevens, Elias Tanenbaum, Frederick Tillis, Joan Tower, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Karl and Vally Weigl, and many others.

ACA composers’ works are performed around the world, including most recently, by the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the University of Utah Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony, The Cleveland Institute of Music, the Concord Orchestra, The Center for Contemporary Opera, The Winnipeg Orchestra, the Tucson Symphony, the iO String Quartet, the Avalon String Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet, the Zukofsky Quartet, duo Parnas, Second Instrumental Unit, the New York Virtuoso Singers, renowned baritone Jan Opalach, clarinet virtuoso Esther Lamneck, the Orchestra of the League of Composers, the OpenMinds Festival, the New Juilliard Ensemble, Lunatics at Large, Ensemble 20-21, and the Arizona West Honor Choir, among many other chamber groups and solo performers.

Thank you for visiting our website - we look forward to hearing from you.

Gina Genova, Director
American Composers Alliance
802 W. 190th St. Suite 1B
New York, NY 10040
(212) 925-0458
info [at] composers [dot] com