BMI supports its songwriters, composers and publishers by taking care of an important aspect of their careers – getting paid. BMI supports businesses and organizations that play music publicly by offering blanket music licenses that permit them to play more than 8.5 million musical works. Both relationships save each time and money.
BMI was founded in 1939 by forward-thinkers who wanted to represent songwriters in emerging genres, like jazz, blues and country, and protect the public performances of their music. Operating on a non-profit-making basis, BMI is now the largest music rights organization in the U.S. and is still nurturing new talent and new music.
BMI is the bridge between songwriters and the businesses and organizations that want to play their music publicly. As a global leader in music rights management, BMI serves as an advocate for the value of music, representing more than 8.5 million musical works created and owned by more than 600,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers.