Broadcast Music Incorporated
The Broadcast Music - abbreviated BMI - is a US company to exercise the rights of composers and lyricists of contemporary music.
history
The BMI was founded in 1939 by radio stations as a license company to break the monopoly of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). The BMI also accepted members from musical genres neglected by the ASCAP - such as country music or rhythm and blues . The result, after BMI had brought its music selection to the disc jockeys for performance even with brutal methods, a “democratization” of the American music world. At the same time, the radio stations freed themselves from the dependency of the monopoly.
In 1940 the radio stations' five-year contract with ASCAP expired. The powerful organization residing in New York's Tin Pan Alley demanded a doubling of the annual sum with which the rights to all pieces of music played on the radio were paid for. The broadcasters then boycotted the ASCAP songs and resorted to the BMI material.
Business purpose
The purpose is to ensure that their members receive royalties for every public performance of their songs . It acts as a mediator between the music producers and the (public) exploiters of copyright-protected pieces of music. This frees the copyright holder from the laborious exercise of his rights. The BMI also represents non-American authors whose works are performed in the USA.
The fair distribution of the sums collected by the public exploiters such as radio stations to the individual members is a complex undertaking. Statistical methods are used to determine how large the proportion of the individual is. The copyright holders for each song are listed separately according to text and music in the BMI and ASCAP catalogs and are usually also listed on the sound carriers.
BMI Awards
Another task of the BMI is the annual award of awards to the most successful songwriters . The BMI Awards are given in the following categories:
In addition, the “Icon Recipients” award is given, honoring songwriters who have “had a significant influence on generations of musicians”.
The BMI Student Composer Awards have been given since 1951 .
literature
- Siegfried Schmidt-Joos : Introduction. In: Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Barry Graves: Rock-Lexikon. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1973, 2nd edition 1975, reprint 1978, ISBN 3-499-16177-X , pp. 11-23, here: pp. 13 f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Siegfried Schmidt-Joos: Introduction. In: Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Barry Graves: Rock-Lexikon. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1973, 2nd edition 1975, reprint 1978, ISBN 3-499-16177-X , pp. 11–23, here: p. 13.
- ^ Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, p. 13.