The ASCAP boycott was a boycott of ASCAP by radio broadcasters due to license fees.

Between 1931 and 1939, ASCAP increased roayalty rates charged to broadcasters some 448%. In 1941, when ASCAP tried to double its license fees, radio broadcasters formed a boycott

Boycott

A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...

 of ASCAP and founded a competing royalty agency, Broadcast Music Incorporated

Broadcast Music Incorporated

Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...

 (BMI). During a ten-month period lasting from January 1 to October 29, 1941, no music licensed by ASCAP (1,250,000 songs) was broadcast on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 and CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 radio stations. Instead, the stations played regional music and styles (like rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 or country) that had been traditionally neglected by ASCAP. Eventually, the differences between ASCAP and the broadcasters were settled, and ASCAP agreed to fees much lower than in preceding years.

"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster . It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1854. Foster wrote the song with his wife Jane McDowell in mind. "Jeanie" was a notorious beneficiary of the ASCAP boycott of 1941...

", an 1854 song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

, was a notorious beneficiary of the ASCAP boycott. According to Time Magazine

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine, "So often had BMI

Broadcast Music Incorporated

Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...

's Jeannie [sic] With the Light Brown Hair been played that she was widely reported to have turned grey."