Legal Definitions - BMI

BMI stands for Broadcast Music, Inc.

BMI is one of the major performing rights organizations in the United States. Its primary role is to collect licensing fees from businesses and venues that publicly perform copyrighted musical works by its affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers. BMI then distributes these fees as royalties to its members, ensuring they are compensated for the use of their music.

Here are some examples illustrating how BMI operates:

• Example 1: A Local Coffee Shop

  A small, independent coffee shop plays a curated playlist of popular music through its sound system to enhance the customer experience. To legally play this music in a public setting, the coffee shop must obtain a public performance license. BMI, representing many of the artists and songwriters whose music might be on that playlist, offers such licenses. By purchasing a BMI license, the coffee shop ensures that the creators of the music are compensated for their work being played in a commercial, public space.

• Example 2: A Major Sports Arena

  During a professional basketball game, the arena frequently plays snippets of popular songs during timeouts, player introductions, and breaks in play. The arena also uses background music throughout the facility. Since this is a public performance of copyrighted music, the arena holds a blanket license from organizations like BMI. This license permits the arena to use a vast catalog of music without needing to contact individual rights holders for each song, and in return, BMI collects fees that are then distributed to its affiliated artists and publishers whose music was played.

• Example 3: A Television Network Broadcast

  A national television network produces a new drama series. The series features a soundtrack composed of various popular songs, some of which are written by songwriters affiliated with BMI. When the show airs, the network is publicly performing these musical works. The network pays licensing fees to BMI (among other performing rights organizations) to cover the public performance rights for the music used in the broadcast. BMI then tracks the usage of its members' songs and distributes the appropriate royalties to the songwriters and publishers involved.