Elizabeth Matthews is Chief Executive Officer of ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP), a membership association of more than one million US composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP licenses the public performance of its members' music, collects license fees and identifies, matches, processes and pays its members royalties for trillions of performances of the more than 20 million works in the ASCAP repertory. Founded and governed by songwriters, composers and publishers, it returns about 90 cents of every dollar collected to its members as royalties and has the lowest overhead rate of any U.S. PRO.

Since Matthews’ tenure as CEO in 2015, ASCAP has generated record-breaking revenues and distributions, resulting in a 7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for total revenues and an 8% CAGR for total royalty distributions to members. 

Beth has been instrumental in leading ASCAP’s advocacy efforts to modernize music licensing. She spearheaded a transformative strategic plan to meet the future needs of ASCAP’s members and licensing partners, and has closed major deals with key licensees, including top streaming, broadcast, audio and audio-visual licensees that are yielding higher royalties for ASCAP songwriters, composers and music publishers.

Under Beth’s leadership, ASCAP has launched pioneering transparency initiatives and technology innovations. Beth has become an industry leader on Artificial Intelligence (AI), advancing ASCAP’s Board-adopted principles to protect songwriters and guide the organization’s decisions on the technology. Other AI-related initiatives she has implemented include creator education sessions, start-up incubation and policy advocacy on Capitol Hill.

Beth has earned a slot on Billboard’s Power 100 list nine times since 2016, has been regularly honored in Billboard’s Women In Music issue, and in 2025 was selected for CNBC’s Changemakers: Women Transforming Business and Forbes’ “50 Over 50” list. She also serves on the Boards of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the T.J. Martell Foundation, Rosie’s Theater Kids as well as the Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board, among other board seats.

Previously, she worked at Viacom Media Networks (formerly MTV Networks), where she held the position of Executive Vice President & Deputy General Counsel. She managed and oversaw the VMN business and legal affairs teams covering advertising, content distribution and marketing, new business development, global digital and new media and the VMN mergers and acquisitions pipeline, research and various ancillary businesses. Prior to Viacom Media Networks, Matthews worked in the intellectual property and corporate groups for Chadbourne & Parke and the business technology group for Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Beth received her B.A. from Purdue University and her J.D. from Emory School of Law.