May 2024
Dear Songwriter, Composer and Publisher,
I hope you’re doing well and feeling creatively inspired. It’s been a very productive quarter on our end, and I’m excited to share several key updates with you.
As you know, we’re committed to delivering the best possible affiliate experience to you and are making significant progress in that area. Last month, we launched the first phase of our dynamic new Royalty Dashboard for songwriters and composers, providing an interactive, streamlined and more transparent way to view your statements and gain greater insights into your earnings than ever before. There is much to explore in the Dashboard, such as viewing your top performing titles, monitoring quarterly and annual trends, drilling into international earnings, and far beyond, so I encourage you to check it out. You can access it through our newly redesigned Online Services (OLS) platform, which now also has a fully featured iOS mobile app that allows you to manage your information from anywhere at any time. Notably, this new platform is the foundation for further improvements and capabilities, and we’re looking forward to continuing to add new features and tools that you’ll find useful.
In addition, we’re excited that our new customer service call center is up and running with a dedicated team of agents ready to answer your questions, as well as a centralized toll-free number, 844-BMI-4255, now in place. You can expect quicker response times and call routing, so the right person can seamlessly provide the help you need. Moving forward, we’ll be rolling out other new customer service enhancements to better assist you.
On the legislative front, activity around AI continues both in DC and in legislatures around the country. In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee signed into law the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act, leading the way in protecting artists and songwriters from misuses of AI voice-cloning technology. BMI endorsed and supported passage of this important initiative. Similarly, in April U.S. Representative Adam Schiff introduced the Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act, which would provide greater transparency and accountability by requiring AI companies to disclose the copyrighted materials used to “train” their systems. BMI has also endorsed this legislation.
While AI holds great promise for our industry, we believe these systems can’t be built at the expense of songwriters and composers, and we’ll continue to work with the Human Artistry Campaign and other allies to protect music creators from abuses of misused AI technology. It’s precisely for fights like these and others in Washington, DC, that BMI made the decision five years ago to open an office in the nation’s capital—the only PRO who has done so—and have someone on the ground fighting day in and day out to protect your rights.
In addition to your regular royalties, this distribution includes retroactive payments for the following sources for those who are eligible: Amazon Music Unlimited from 2021 through first quarter of 2023; MIRROR for 2023; MIXCLOUD for 2021 through 2023; SNAP for 2022 and 2023; and VEEPS for 2022. Regarding international royalties, if applicable this distribution includes retroactive payments from the Brazilian society, UBC, for past performances.
As always, it’s important to be vigilant about data, and to that end, we’ve put together these quick tips on protecting your personal information, which I hope you find helpful. Rest assured that the safety of your information and your BMI account is of the utmost importance to us.
We were very proud to celebrate our outstanding affiliates at our award celebrations this quarter, including our Latin Awards, honoring Horacio Palencia; Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards, celebrating Dorinda Clarke-Cole and Jonathan McReynolds; as well as our Composer Awards. We were also privileged to pay tribute to renowned songwriter/producer David Foster at the 74th Annual BMI/NAB Dinner. Kudos go out to all the winners of Premio Lo Nuestro, BAFTA Awards, BRIT Awards as well as Oscar recipient, Ludwig Göransson, who took the trophy for Best Score for Oppenheimer, and Tyshawn Sorey, who won this year’s esteemed Pulitzer Prize for Music. I’d also like to wish the best of luck to all our nominees for the ACM Awards, Ivor Novellos, Drama Desk and Tony Awards. Moreover, congratulations to legendary BMI composers Gary Bartz and Terence Blanchard who were named among this year’s NEA Jazz Masters.
Lastly, I want to thank all our incredible singer/songwriters who played the Key West Songwriters Festival earlier this month, which I experienced firsthand and thoroughly enjoyed. Looking ahead, we’re getting ready for BMI’s Pop Awards, Film, TV & Visual Media Awards, and our Christian Awards, all while exploring new and innovative ways of delivering stellar service and even greater opportunities to you, our exceptional creative community.
Have a wonderful summer!
Sincerely,
Mike O'Neill
President and Chief Executive Officer
Enclosure:
