Performing Rights Companies

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performing rights company that collects and administrates licensing for artists and publishers. Asura Records has been a BMI client since it’s inception. Publishing and rights collection is complicated in that it is an immense undertaking to monitor and track performance and utilization of one’s music in the various many forms of broadcasting. Because of this it is best served to subscribed to and register one’s work with an agency like BMI. There are several to choose from the main two being BMI and ASCAP. We chose BMI for the single reason being that most artists in our genre are also BMI artists.

BMI has many useful tools for a working musician to expand business and develop new forms of revenue. One such tool related to marketing and branding is a simple two page pdf file that outlines simple questions to ask yourself while developing a brand strategy. Another recent service is the BMI Live service, which allows performing artists to register concerts and then receive a portion of the performance licensing fees collected from venues by BMI.

BMI is active in representing artist right in legislation. This past March BMI was invited to speak in a round table with the U.S. Register of Copyrights to recommend industry best practices and help communicate the importance of intellectual property rights in the music industry.  Two recent legislative acts that highlighted a need for clearer communication and the need to protect rights while also protecting privacy of individuals were the anti-piracy acts (SOPA and PIPA).  These two acts lead to a clash over the right to fair compensation for performance/broadcast of IP and the privacy of the individual and possible censorship of websites. 

When making a choice for a performance rights company, review the needs of your business and the community of artists in your particular genre. Weigh the options of tools and the benefits that are offered by each to determine which organization will be the best fit. Please feel free to comment on this thread about your experience with any rights company or if you would like further information on my own experience.