The Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (French: Association des compositeurs, auteurs et éditeurs du Canada Ltée) was a Canadian copyright collective for the right to communicate with the public and publicly perform musical works.
CAPAC administered these rights on behalf of its members (composers, lyricists, songwriters, and their publishers) and those of affiliated international organizations by licensing the use of their music in Canada.
[3] Its initial purpose was to administer the royalties of composers, lyricists and music publishers whose creations were performed in Canada, be they native Canadians or foreigners.
[6] In 1950 CPAC changed its method of assessment from logging individual performances to collecting a percentage of revenues.
[4] Over the next few years the organization came into conflict with the Canadian Association of Broadcasters as well as a number of private supper clubs, who objected to paying the royalties and license fees assessed by CAPAC.