NARAS (The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) The Recording Academy is an organization of musicians, producers, engineers and recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its makers. Internationally known for the GRAMMY® Awards, The Recording Academy is responsible for ground breaking professional development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education and human services programs ? including the creation of the national public education campaign What's The Download®

The National Association of Record Industry Professionals (NARIP) promotes education, career advancement and good will among record executives. With an emphasis on becoming better informed and more effective executives, NARIP offers professional development opportunities, seminars, educational programs  and other services.

ASCAP  (American Society of Composers and Publishers) ASCAP is a membership association of over 225,000 U.S. composers, songwriters, lyricists, and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP protects the rights of its members by licensing and distributing royalties for the non-dramatic public performances of their copyrighted works. ASCAP's licensees encompass all who want to perform copyrighted music publicly. ASCAP makes giving and obtaining permission to perform music simple for both creators and users of music. 

Nielsen SoundScan  is an information system that tracks sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada . Sales data from point-of-sale cash registers is collected weekly from over 14,000 retail, mass merchant and non-traditional (on-line stores, venues, etc.) outlets. Weekly data is compiled and made available every Wednesday. Nielsen Soundscan  is the sales source for the Billboard music charts.