Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Effective Date: September 30, 2024

Introduction

This privacy policy (“Policy”) describes our information collection, use, and sharing practices in connection with BMI.com and any other website or service that links to or refers to this Policy (collectively, the “Sites”), including information collected from our affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers (collectively, “Affiliates”) both on the Sites and elsewhere.  However, if you are an Affiliate, you should also review our Supplemental Privacy Notice for Affiliates that is accessible within our Online Services.  Our “Online Services” are our websites and online services that require an account, a username and password, or some other special relationship with BMI in order to gain access.

Who We Are

Broadcast Music, Inc. (“BMI”) is a U.S. music performing rights organization. Headquartered in New York at 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10007, BMI also maintains offices in Atlanta, Austin, London, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Miami. We can be reached via the contact information in the Questions or Comments section below.

What We Collect

BMI collects different information depending on your use of the Sites and our relationship with you:

Information you provide directly to us..  We collect information that is provided directly to us, such as during account registration, when you subscribe to our newsletters, license music, or contact us directly.  This information may include:

  • Contact information and other identifiers, such as your name, email address, phone number, and mailing address;
  • Username and password;
  • Information that customers may need to provide in order to obtain a license from BMI, which may include business name and address and payment information such as your payment card number or bank account information;
  • Professional and Employment Information if you are applying for a job at BMI, such as information about education and work history; and information about qualifications, skills, and credentials;
  • Information submitted by customers pursuant to the terms of their license agreement with BMI, which may include financial or music usage data;
  • If you are an Affiliate, additional information to administer our relationship with you and as described in our Supplemental Privacy Notice for Affiliates; and
  • Any other information you choose to provide to us.

You are not required to register or provide us with personal information in order to use the public portions of our Sites, but you may be required to register or otherwise provide personal information to use certain portions of the Sites, such as Online Services.

Information we collect automatically. We collect certain information, including internet and other electronic network activity information, automatically when you use our Sites, such as your Internet protocol (IP) address, device identifiers, browser type, operating system, Internet service provider, pages that you visit before and after using the Sites, the date and time of your visit, information about the links you click, the pages you view, the general manner in which you navigate the Sites, and other standard server log information.

We collect certain information, including internet and other electronic network activity information, automatically when you use our Sites, such as your Internet protocol (IP) address, device identifiers, browser type, operating system, Internet service provider, pages that you visit before and after using the Sites, the date and time of your visit, information about the links you click, the pages you view, the general manner in which you navigate the Sites, and other standard server log information.

Information we receive from third-party sources. We also may receive the above categories of information about you from other sources. For example, we may collect professional, demographic, and other information about you from recruiting agencies, identity verification and fraud detection services, local, state and federal governmental agencies, social networks and publicly-available sources.

We may combine the information we collect from and about you with information we already have about you for purposes stated in this policy, including to derive inferences about you.  Depending on your relationship with us, we may have collected each of the categories of information described above over the prior twelve (12) months preceding the effective date of this policy.

How We Use Information

We generally use the information we collect online to:

  • Provide you with products, services, and information, including by operating the Sites;
  • Generate licenses to use music, establish and maintain licensee accounts, and process financial and usage information;
  • Contact you;
  • Send you newsletters and promotional materials from us or on behalf of trusted third-party partners;
  • Analyze the use of the Sites and user data to understand and improve the Sites;
  • Customize the content you see when you use the Sites;
  • Prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities, comply with applicable law, and enforce our Terms and Conditions of Use (and more generally, as noted below, to protect and defend the rights, interests, health, safety, and security of BMI or third parties); and
  • For any other purposes disclosed to you (for example, at the time we collect your information), or pursuant to your consent.

How We Disclose Information

We are committed to maintaining your trust, and we want you to understand when and with whom we may disclose each of the categories of information we collect.

  • Other Music Licensing Organizations, Registries, and the Public.
    • For those Affiliates who license their works through BMI, we might disclose information to organizations to identify you and your works, facilitate more accurate documentation, and to license and administer your works. For more information, please see the Supplemental Privacy Notice for Affiliates. If you obtain a license from BMI, we may identify you and your company or service as the source of the royalty payments that we remit to our Affiliates and to music licensing organizations outside of the U.S. for your performances of their members’ music.
    • Information about registered musical works, including song title, writer name(s), and publisher name(s), is posted in our publicly-available, searchable song title database so that customers or potential customers can determine whether a work is licensed by BMI and/or who they need to contact if they need a synchronization or other type of license.
  • Authorized third-party vendors and service providers. We may work with and disclose your information to third-party vendors and service-providers that help us with specialized services, including legal advice, billing, payment processing, customer service, email deployment, surveys, business analytics, marketing, advertising, performance monitoring, fraud prevention, hosting, and data processing.  In some cases, these parties are acting on our behalf.  Some of our fraud prevention and other vendors may process personal information pursuant to their own privacy policies.
  • Business transfers. We may disclose any of the information we collect to third parties as necessary in connection with a substantial corporate transaction, such as a sale, merger, consolidation, asset sale, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
  • Legal purposes. We may disclose all the information we collect to third parties as necessary to respond to subpoenas, court orders, legal process, law enforcement requests, legal claims or government inquiries, to enforce our terms of use and other agreements, including our affiliation and licensing agreements, prevent fraud or for risk management purposes, and protect and defend the rights, interests, health, safety, and security of BMI, our Affiliates, users, or the public.
  • With your consent or at your direction. We may disclose information to third parties for any other purposes of which we inform you at the time we collect the information or pursuant to your consent or direction.

Some of the content, functionality, and advertising on our Sites may be provided by third parties that are not affiliated with us, including through the use of cookies and similar technologies as described in the “Cookies” section below. For example, if you access third-party services, such as Facebook, Google, or Twitter, through the Sites to share information about your experience on the Sites with others, these third-party services may be able to collect information about you, including information about your activity on our Sites through the use of cookies, web beacons, and other Internet technologies, and this information may be collected over time and combined with information collected across different websites and online services.  Their collection and use of your data will be governed by their own privacy policies.

Some of these companies participate in industry-developed programs designed to provide consumers choices about whether to receive targeted advertising. Please visit the websites operated by the Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance to learn more.

BMI does not sell your information to third-parties. Please see the sections What We Collect and How we Disclose Information for information about our practices in the preceding 12 months

Your Choices and Rights

You may have certain rights as a data subject under local law.  For example, local law may afford you the right to access, update, restrict, oppose, erase, port and/or correct inaccuracies in your personal information under our control, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. To exercise these rights, please contact us using the contact information in the Questions or Comments section below or as may be provided to you on or through any of our Sites. Once we receive your request, we will verify it in accordance with local laws including, where appropriate, by asking you for additional information that we may match with our existing records. These rights are not absolute.  For example, we may deny requests where permitted by applicable law, such as if your information must be retained under applicable law or if your identity cannot be confirmed.

You may be entitled, in accordance with applicable law, to submit a request through an authorized agent.  To designate an authorized agent to exercise your rights and choices on your behalf, we may require you to take additional steps, including providing the authorized agent with signed written permission or verifying your identity directly with us.

We typically do not process your sensitive data except as is permitted under local laws.  However, if you think we are using your sensitive data in ways that implicate such rights, you also may contact us to request to revoke consent to the processing of your sensitive data or to limit how we use and disclose your sensitive data in accordance with local laws.

If you no longer wish to receive electronic newsletters or other materials from us, you can opt out using the instruction provided in the newsletters or other materials.

BMI maintains links to other websites, including those of advertisers, BMI publishers, foreign performing rights organizations and Internet licensing customers, to help you find additional information in which you may be interested. Please keep in mind that BMI is not responsible for the privacy practices of these other websites, so you should review their policies prior to giving them your information.

Cookies

We, as well as certain third parties, including those that provide content and other functionality on our Sites, may use cookies, web beacons, and other similar technologies on our Sites and the information collected from such technologies. By using the Sites, you consent to our use of cookies and similar technologies as described in this Policy.  You may opt out of certain cookies and similar technologies in accordance with the “Choices” section above, but please understand that certain functionalities on the Site may no longer function for you if you choose to do so.

Cookies are small bits of information that are stored by your computer’s web browser. Pixel tags are very small images or small pieces of data embedded in images, also known as “web beacons” or “clear GIFs,” that can recognize cookies, the time and date a page is viewed, a description of the page where the pixel tag is placed, and similar information from your computer or device. You may be able to refuse or disable certain cookies by adjusting your web browser settings.  Because each web browser is different, please consult the instructions provided by your web browser (typically in the “help” section).  To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.com or www.allaboutcookies.org. Please note that you may need to take additional steps to refuse or disable local shared objects and similar technologies.  If you choose to refuse, disable, or delete these technologies, some of the functionality of the Sites may no longer be available to you.

Some web browsers transmit “do-not-track” signals or similar mechanisms to websites. Because of differences in how web browsers incorporate and activate this feature, it is not always clear whether users intend for these signals to be transmitted, or whether they even are aware of them. We currently do not take action in response to these signals.

International Transfers

BMI may collect, transfer, store and process your information outside of your country of residence, including to and from the United States. Please note that other countries’ data protection and other laws may not be as comprehensive as those in your country. In accordance with applicable law, we implement measures to ensure that any transferred personal information remains protected and secure. You may obtain further information about these measures by contacting us using the contact information in the Questions and Comments section below.

International Data Processing

To the extent BMI’s activities are subject to international data protection laws that specify limited legal grounds to process your information, BMI relies on the following legal grounds: conclusion or performance of a contract, including our Terms and Conditions of Use; for legitimate interests of BMI or third parties (including the promotion and development of our Sites; preventing potentially prohibited or illegal activities; and enforcing our Terms and Conditions of Use); compliance with legal obligations; where necessary for public interest grounds, or to protect your or others’ vital interests; or on the basis of your consent.

Where applicable, you may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the contact information in the Questions or Comments section below.

Job Applicants

If you have applied for a job at BMI, we may use your personal information to fulfill various recruiting, compliance, and other customary human resources purposes. This includes, where permitted, processing information to monitor our pathways for employee recruitment.

Children

We do not knowingly collect any personal information online from children under 13 or as defined by local law, unless permitted by law. We also do not knowingly sell the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age for purposes of targeted advertising. If we learn that a child has provided us with personal information, we will delete it in accordance with applicable law.

Changes To Our Policy

In the event that BMI changes this Policy, we will revise the “Effective Date” above, and will post the revised policy on the website. We recommend that you review the Privacy Policy each time you visit the Sites to stay informed of our privacy practices.

Security and Data Retention

BMI takes reasonable steps to protect all of the information we collect. You should understand that no data storage system or transmission of data over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure. We have informed all employees of our security and privacy practices, and we will update all employees as necessary.

We will retain your personal information in accordance with applicable laws.

In some circumstances we may anonymize your personal information (so that it can no longer be associated with you), particularly for research or statistical purposes, and may aggregate such anonymous data with that of other users of the Services. Anonymized or aggregated data is not subject to this Privacy Policy unless we re-identify it.

Questions or Comments

If you have any questions or comments about this Policy or our practices, or would like to exercise your rights under applicable data protection laws, please send an e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or call our Customer Service line at 844-BMI-4255.

Supplemental Privacy Notice for Affiliates

We may process Affiliates’ information in the ways that we describe in our Privacy Policy, which you may access at any time, including as posted on BMI.com.  We are providing this supplemental privacy notice for Affiliates to provide Affiliates with additional information about the data we collect from you and how we may use it.

In addition to the categories of information described in the Privacy Policy, we may collect additional types of information about you if you are an Affiliate, including:

  • Information that Affiliates may need to provide as part of the process of affiliating with BMI, such as legal name, date of birth and social security number, tax identification, or other unique identifiers; and
  • Information submitted by Affiliates to register their works, manage their account(s), and request and submit documents and other information relating to their affiliation with BMI.  This may include bank account information if an Affiliate chooses to use our direct deposit option for royalty payments and location information to help identify venues when reporting live performances to BMI.
  • We also may receive additional information from third-party sources about Affiliates. For example, we may receive performance data from sources like other users, international music distribution societies, music databases, standards registries and other music licensing organizations.

In addition to the processing activities described in the Privacy Policy, we may use any of the information we collect to establish and maintain accounts for Affiliates, register musical works, and distribute royalties, and as otherwise contemplated by our contractual relationship with Affiliates.

We may disclose Affiliates’ information as described in the Privacy Policy, including to other music licensing organizations, registries, and the public. For example:

  • If you license your works through BMI, we may disclose information about you and your works to standards registries and other music licensing organizations around the world in order to help identify you and your works for licensing and administration purposes. We also may share your information with other music licensing organizations in the U.S. to facilitate more accurate documentation among the licensing organizations in a specific territory, such as with ASCAP, SESAC, or GMR here in the United States, and with licensees as may be necessary in the licensing and administration of your works.
  • Information about registered musical works, including song title, writer name(s), and publisher name(s), is posted in our publicly-available, searchable song title database so that customers or potential customers can determine whether a work is licensed by BMI and/or who they need to contact if they need a synchronization or other type of license.

To the extent, BMI’s Online Services facilitate special discount programs on trade magazine subscriptions, computer equipment, and other third-party products and services, the personal information that you enter when you take advantage of any of these programs is provided directly to the third party and is subject to that third party’s privacy policy. You should review their privacy policies prior to entering any information.

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