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One half is designated for the songwriter(s) or composer(s), and the other half is designated for the publisher(s) or copyright holder(s). Learn more about how BMI pays royalties. If you do not have a publisher, you will also receive the publisher’s share as a writer.

If you do not own a publishing company and there are no publisher shares on the work you will see Manuscript as a publishing placeholder. This means the writer and publisher shares are flowing directly to the writers.

BMI conducts music showcases nationwide and offers a variety of professional development seminars, but we cannot get your songs placed on the radio. Publishers, labels, managers and other outside executives may help you find new outlets for your work, but as a performing right organization, BMI’s focus is fair payment and copyright protection for our songwriters, composers and music publishers.

For career advice on how you can be heard, attend a BMI-sponsored workshop or contact your local songwriters association, like the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI) in Nashville.

No, that is not within the scope of our business.

For career advice, attend a BMI-sponsored workshop, or contact your local songwriters association, like the Nashville Songwriters Association, or NSAI, in Nashville.

No. BMI only represents its members in their role as songwriters, composers and publishers of songs and scores. Getting a record deal is not within the scope of our business.

First, congratulations! Now, you need to make sure your work is registered. As soon as a song is published and/or recorded, it should be registered with and reported to BMI. BMI’s ability to license and monitor the performances of a composition is dependent upon the accuracy and timeliness of this reported information. Without it, you may miss out on royalties.

Typically, a publisher will register songs for songwriters and composers. Early registration of works will help prevent lost royalties, so make sure your songs are registered.

No, that’s part of BMI’s function. If your songs are registered with BMI and you are receiving radio play, then BMI will get that information.

For detailed information on our payment methodology, visit our Royalty Information section.

To begin registering your works, log in to your Online Services account.

• Select Works Registration.
• On the Works Registration home page, click Add New Work to begin the registration process.
• Proceed through the steps:
  • Work Info
  • Other Works
  • Publishers & Writers
  • Artists & Recordings
  • Summary

Once submitted online, they will be processed by BMI before appearing in your Works Catalog. Once processed, you will receive an email notification from bmiworksregistration@bmi.com.







Need to update an already registered work? Refer to Instructions for Updating Registered Works

Once you are a member of BMI, there is no charge to register your songs. Early registration of works is important — if you don’t register your songs you won’t get paid when they’re played.

For detailed information on our payment methodology, visit our Royalty Information section.

No. BMI relies on the information you provide when registering your song such as title, writer, and artist information. BMI does not need a copy of audio and/or lyrics.

Song registration is simple and can be done online with our online song registration program. BMI does not accept uploads of audio files (.MP3 etc) as part of song registrations.

Please refer to Instructions for Updating Registered Works for complete instructions to update registered works.

In short, you can email update requests to reviseworks@bmi.com. In your email, be sure to include the title and work number, as well as a clear description of the revision that is being requested. Your request will be reviewed and, if supporting documentation is required before the update can be completed, we’ll email you back with further instructions.

Please note, this is the only way to update an existing work. If you try to register a new version of the same work it will be rejected automatically.

Your composition is copyrighted automatically when the work is “created,” which the law defines as being “fixed” in a copy or a recording for the first time. The registration of your copyright is recommended, but not required. BMI does not copyright works for you.

If you wish to copyright your works, which we recommend, visit copyright.gov.

IPI stands for: Interested Parties Information

CAE stands for: Composer, Author and Publisher

The IPI/CAE number is a publicly accessible international identification number used to identify participants on a work. Writers and publishers will be assigned a unique number for each name/AKA on file with BMI. Therefore, writers with multiple names/AKAs will have multiple numbers.

Register your works using the IPI Number associated with the name/AKA you would like to appear on the new work. Regardless of the IPI Number you decide to use, the royalties will all be directed to your BMI account. Please note your BMI account # is not your IPI#. Please do not use a BMI account number as an IPI# when registering a work.

Locate your IPI numbers via Online Services or via Songview.

Online Services

IPI Numbers are available in Online Services. Once you log in to your account, click IPI Number.

If you only have one BMI account, you will be taken directly to your IPI information.

If you have multiple BMI accounts, under My Accounts, click the name of an account.

In the example below, this person has access to their BMI writer and publisher accounts.

Your Legal Name and any AKAs registered with BMI will be listed on this screen, each with its own unique IPI Number.

Songview

1. Go to Songview
2. From the drop-down menu, select Writer/Composer or Publisher.
3. Enter the name in the search bar.
4. Click Search.

The IPI number appears under the column IPI#.

Public Performing Right
Granted by U.S. Copyright Law, the public performing right is the exclusive right of the copyright owner to authorize the performance or transmission of a copyrighted work in public.

Public Performance License
BMI issues licenses on behalf of the copyright owner or the copyright owner’s agent granting the right to perform the work in or transmit the work to the public.

Reproduction Right
Granted by U.S. Copyright Law, the reproduction right is the exclusive right of the copyright owner to authorize the reproduction of a copyrighted musical work, as in CDs, records, tapes, ringtones, permanent digital downloads, and interactive streams.

Mechanical Licenses
The Mechanical Licensing Collective administers blanket licenses on behalf of copyright owners to eligible streaming and download services (digital service providers or DSP’s) in the United States.

Synchronization License
Copyright owners, usually a music publisher, issues a synchronization license, usually to a producer or other visual media creator, granting the right to synchronize (“sync”) a musical composition to visual images on film or video (on film, tv shows, advertisements, online videos, etc.).

Publisher information, including contact information for BMI affiliated publishers, is available through our online repertoire search.

Registering your copyrights is not required but it is highly recommended since doing so will give you certain protection under copyright law in case you need to sue someone for using your song without your permission.

Registering songs with the Library of Congress puts your claim of authorship on the public record and may help if ever there is a dispute over credit or timing.

Of course, the Library of Congress does not provide legal defense in the face of stolen or infringed material, but can provide written or recorded documentation of your copyright should the need arise.

Yes, a new version of an old song, also called a derivative work, should be copyrighted, noting the ways it’s been altered from the previous version.

Although your song is technically copyrighted as soon as you finish writing it, it’s still a good idea to register that copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. Registering a song with BMI will only allow you to receive performance royalties if that song gets performed; it does not give you protection under copyright law.

The majority of songs registered online will appear in your Online Services Catalog and in Songview within 24 hours. Work registrations that require additional research may take up to 7 business days to become visible online.

BMI is a performing rights society. We do not act as a publisher or promoter of music. Please refer to About BMI section of our web site.

Cue sheets are the primary means by which performing rights organizations track the use of music in films and TV. Without cue sheets, it would be nearly impossible for such composers and publishers to be compensated for their work.

See more details on our What is a Cue Sheet? info page.

Arrangements are not eligible for the live classical distribution at BMI. Please register all arrangements as non-classical by selecting “all other genres” at the beginning of the registration process.

Works that are going straight to recorded release without live concert premieres are not registered as classical. Please register instrumental CD tracks as non-classical by selecting “all other genres” at the beginning of the registration process.

When the new instrumentation of an existing work has the same title and duration, please do not re-register it, but send an email with the details to classical@bmi.com.

At BMI, you need not affiliate a publishing entity in order to receive publishing shares, as we pay all royalties (writer and publisher) to the composer on any self-published works. If you prefer to receive your composer and publisher royalty streams separately, you may affiliate your publishing company by completing the BMI Publisher Application Form. There is a one-time fee of $175 to affiliate an individual publisher, $250 as publishing company that is a corporation (including sole stockholder corporations) or LLC and $500 for a partnership.

Text found on the internet without attribution to the author or a publication date is not necessarily in the public domain. Before you can register this work with BMI, you should contact the website’s administrator to determine the copyright holder. Written permission to use any copyrighted text is required before you can register the work with BMI.

To add a movement to a work that already appears in your BMI catalog, please send an email to classical@bmi.com with the updated duration of the full work. Please do not register the new movement separately.

Please contact the classical department.

All work titles appear in your catalog without punctuation for the purpose of standardizing titles. This is done automatically during the registration process.

Arrangements are not eligible for the Live Classical distribution at BMI because they are not original works. Arrangements are, however, eligible for royalties from all other sources. Therefore, please register arrangements by selecting “all other genres” at the beginning of the work registration process.

On “official” remixes, meaning the new work has been commissioned by, or otherwise approved by, the creators/rights owners of the original work, yes, BMI does pay performance royalties. An “official” remix usually involves a DJ/producer, and, to the extent that there is a sufficient amount of new creative elements in the remix, it will typically be considered a derivative work. The label, artist, publishers, writers, and individual(s) involved in creating the remix will agree on what the royalty splits will be for the remix, which requires a new BMI registration to reflect the agreed royalty splits.

On an “unofficial” remix, meaning the remix was done without the consent of the creators/rights owners of the original work and the creator of the remix, no, BMI does not pay performance royalties to the individual(s) involved in creating the remix, because it is an unauthorized derivative work.  “Unofficial” remixes should not be registered with BMI as a new work.

BMI accepts registrations for works-for-hire. The company that hired you will normally own the copyright and be entitled to claim your publishing share. However, per BMI policy the writer, and not the company, must be listed as a composer/author on the registration. The only way for the company that commissioned you to receive your writer performance royalties would be through a royalty assignment. However, it is between you and the company to determine whether that is necessary.

Royalty Assignment Form

See Instructions for Updating Registered Works.