ASCAP, the oldest organization representing songwriters and artists in the United States, is set unveil a "bill of rights" for songwriters and composers to ensure that musicians get paid for music distributed on the Web.

The document, which ASCAP plans to unveil Thursday morning in Los Angeles at its annual conference, the ASCAP Expo, comes as the music industry is moving to dramatically reshape its future. [The full text of the bill of rights can be found here.]

"Given the many issues surrounding the music industry today, it can be all to easy to overlook the source of it all—individual songwriters, lyricists, and composers," Phil Crosland, ASCAP’s executive vice president for marketing, told Portfolio.com. "Our goal is to support all music creators, reminding lawmakers, the general public, and music creators themselves of the rights inherent in their art."

In the face of widespread music piracy and rapidly declining CD sales, the recording industry is facing its biggest crisis ever.

ASCAP's artist bill of rights—part of a 32-page position paper—says bluntly: "The creative people who bring vital art forms like music to life have the right to share in the profits generated by their work and earn a living from uses of their work."

It goes on to state that the "protection of copyright in the musical realm is vital to the creator who hopes to make a living from his or her passion to create. Without this protection, many who dream of focusing their talents and energies on music creation will be economically unable to do so—which means artistic expression is lost both today and to future generations."

ASCAP is a membership association of over 300,000 U.S. composers, songwriters, lyricists, and publishers of every kind of music.

The organization will also launch a webpage "allowing ASCAP members and other music creators to sign on with their support of the bill of rights electronically," the group said, in a statement. "ASCAP will be collecting the physical signatures of many high-profile songwriters and composers attending the Expo over the next few days."

The recording industry's wrenching transition into the digital age has been exposed during the last few weeks, as the major labels have made very public moves to show that they are willing to embrace new Web-based business models.

Last week, three of the four major labels signed a deal with Rupert Murdoch's MySpace.com to offer free, ad-supported streaming music. EMI has hired former Google star Doug Merrill to run its business. And Warner Music Group has hired Jim Griffin, a longtime industry critic, to explore the possibility of bundling a monthly fee into consumers' internet-service bills for unlimited access to music.

But independent musicians, such as the outspoken singer-songwriter Samantha Murphy, have expressed skepticism about the new digital business models, wondering if they will be left out in the cold.