February 2025
Dear Songwriter, Composer and Publisher,
I hope your year is off to a great start. On our end, we’re excited to keep building on our service and support to you and look forward to all the opportunities ahead. With that, I’m pleased to share several updates, along with an important ask for your help.
As you may have seen, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) recently issued a request for comments about PROs and the public performance marketplace, and it is critical that you weigh in to protect your rights and royalties. This action was sparked by a letter from three members of Congress who raised concerns on behalf of licensees about new PROs entering the marketplace and how PROs pay royalties. The Copyright Office had to respond to Congress and chose to do so by issuing a request for comments about how the PRO marketplace is working. We believe the true motivation of the licensees was not to question the effectiveness of the marketplace or call attention to these new PROs, but instead, is intended to raise doubts in order to further regulate the PRO space and ultimately pay you less for your creative work. As we always have, BMI will continue to advocate tirelessly on your behalf to stop that from happening.
To that end, we hope you will make your voice heard at USCO by signing a letter outlining the full perspective of the issues raised and clearly stating the intention of these licensees to pay you less for your music. You can read and sign the letter here. Thank you to those who have already signed, and to those who haven’t yet, we appreciate you engaging in this important discussion.
Another area the Copyright Office and our entire industry is focused on is generative AI. Last month, USCO released a second report on copyright and AI, re-stating its position that human-created works with AI elements can be copyrighted, and that existing copyright law can be applied to this new technology without any changes needed. USCO is expected to issue a third report soon on the legal implications of training AI systems on copyrighted works. Once that is issued, we’ll keep you informed on the findings and what they mean for you.
In addition, it’s been a very busy quarter on the Licensing front. I’m pleased to share that BMI has renewed our agreement with Spotify, without dilution for bundling audiobooks with their music service and representing all of BMI’s repertoire; as well as with Netflix; all the Disney properties (Disney+, Hulu, ABC cable networks); and NBC broadcast and cable. Moreover, after years of negotiations, we have concluded an agreement with Paramount Global, inclusive of Paramount+, CBS, Viacom and Pluto.
I’d also like to congratulate all of our exceptional affiliates who received prestigious industry awards this quarter, including GRAMMYs, Golden Globes, HMMAs and Latin GRAMMYs. Kudos also go out to our extraordinary songwriters who will be inducted into the 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame, and best of luck to our affiliates nominated for the Academy Awards, Brit Awards and Premio Lo Nuestro.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to celebrate our incredible Latin songwriters and publishers at the BMI Latin Awards, including BMI Champion Award honoree Peso Pluma and BMI Impact Award recipient Tito Double P, as well as our stellar Gospel community at the BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards. We’re also looking forward to being back in Austin at SXSW next month, with another wonderful opportunity for BMI songwriters to shine.
As always, we are privileged to represent you and can’t wait to hear all the phenomenal music you’ll create next. Thank you for your continued trust.
Sincerely,
Mike O'Neill
President and Chief Executive Officer
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