Entertainment Biz - BMI Pays Record Number of Copyright Creators & Owners

BMI

BMI songwriters receive exclusive Spotify invitations

NEW YORK, NEW YORK USA - (BUSINESS WIRE)

Friday August 5, 2011

Spotify and turntable.fm are now licensed by BMI. In the agreement, the two digital music services’ public performances of BMI’s more than 6.5 million works are covered.

BMI tracked 1.6 billion performances on BMI-licensed websites in the last quarter alone. Thanks to this and other key revenue streams, BMI is paying more songwriters, composers and music publishers than ever before in its 71-year history.

“We are pleased to confirm that we have reached agreements that guarantee fair compensation for the more than 475,000 songwriters, composers and copyright owners who entrust BMI with their public performance right,” said Richard Conlon, Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy/Communications & New Media. “Both agreements represent yet another step in our long tradition of breaking new ground in licensing music for digital distribution.”

Spotify and turntable.fm join Sony QRIOCITY, Cricket Wireless Muve music service and more in the growing roster of more than 9,000 digital properties licensed by BMI. The agreements point to BMI’s commitment to fostering a marketplace that rewards innovation and the fair compensation of copyright creators and owners.

In an exclusive outreach to music creators, Spotify offered BMI songwriters, composers and music publishers an invitation to experience its vast library of over 15 million songs. BMI’s members personified the excitement surrounding Spotify’s launch, claiming all of the invitations in only one hour. Distributed by BMI, the invite exemplifies Spotify’s dedication to working with its partners during its launch in America.

BMI was the first music company to launch a website in September 1994 and the first to license music on the Internet in April 1995. It now has more than 6,000 licensees in all aspects of digital distribution of music. The company has built the industry’s most robust infrastructure for processing copyright transactions, which last year totaled more than 92 billion, the vast majority of them from the digital space.

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), a global leader in rights management, is an American performing right organization that represents songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for more than 70 years. The U.S. corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents. BMI songwriters and composers were the most celebrated creative voices in awards presentations and on the charts during the past year, accounting for almost two-thirds of the Grammy Awards and dominating other key awards and honors presentations across all genres of music.