BMI Launches New Online Song Registration System
“This new enhanced version of our registration system for musical works is the first step in rolling out FastTrack-compliant digital tools for the use of songwriters, composers and publishers around the world,” said BMI President and CEO Frances W. Preston. Songwriters using the new “Online Works Registration” (OWR) system will benefit as their works will be automatically added to the FastTrack global database, allowing instantaneous, accurate identification of their works in international territories by FastTrack alliance partners.
In addition, the new system includes a number of enhancements to make the registration process easier and faster for BMI affiliates. The user interface has been simplified; intelligence has been added to provide users with pre-populated information through extended “wizard” functionality; and users can edit information at several stages of the registration process. Behind the scenes, the system code has been rewritten, improving stability and incorporating the latest industry standard technologies.
New works registered through the system will be swiftly added to the FastTrack GDDN (Global Documentation and Distribution Network). The GDDN facilitates the accurate and quick identification of new works when they are performed in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, current FastTrack partner territories. “This new system means that our songwriters themselves are the first and most important step in a global system designed for 21st century royalty administration,” said Preston.
BMI’s implementation of the FastTrack-compliant Online Works Registration tool is the first in a planned rollout by FastTrack partners.
BMI was the first performing rights organization in the world to make online registration available to its songwriters in February 2000. This system became the basis on which the FastTrack Online Works Registration tool was developed. More than 100,000 works have been registered by thousands of BMI songwriters. The BMI system has already dramatically reduced the number of paper registrations and now accounts for approximately two-thirds of all registrations by individual writers and independently owned publishers.
The new registration system has gone through extensive testing by a panel of BMI songwriters who agreed to be beta testers. They have praised the new system for its enhanced help screens, calling it “very user friendly.”
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