SESAC was founded in 1930 originally as the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers. Since that time SESAC has significantly expanded the number of songwriters and publishers represented, and its repertory now includes one million songs and counting.

SESAC is the second oldest of the three Performing Rights Organizations (PRO) named in the Copyright Law of the United States, all of which were created to protect the rights of music creators. This law defines a PRO as "an association, corporation, or other entity that licenses the public performance of non-dramatic musical works on behalf of copyright owners” or in our case, songwriters and film and tv composers.