March 2008
Dear Songwriter, Composer and Publisher:
For many years, BMI has led the fight to protect copyright and songwriters’ livelihoods. BMI songwriters have joined us and “walked the halls” of Congress for major revisions of the copyright laws that have greatly benefited future generations of songwriters, composers and music publishers.
Today, we face an important challenge to songwriters’ livelihoods, as the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) comes to grips with the equitable payment due to songwriters and composers for the use of their works in today’s marketplace. A major proceeding before the CRB began on January 28 with a final decision expected in early October, and although it focuses on mechanical rights, not a right which BMI represents, we recognize that these royalties are an extremely important part of the total compensation that all songwriters, composers and music publishers receive, compensation that recognizes the value of your creativity and your contribution to world culture. Indeed, such compensation — combined with the performing rights payments from BMI — is your “salary” as music professionals. Without the proper economic support, the incentive to produce the volume and quality of music that has thrilled audiences for generations both at home and abroad will be greatly diminished.
The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) is representing the mechanical right interests of songwriters and music publishers in this important hearing before the CRB. We have offered them our complete and unwavering support in this fight. On the other side are the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing record labels, and the Digital Media Association (DiMA), representing the huge global corporations that are today’s digital users of music. Both organizations have proposed sharp reductions in the royalties available to songwriters, composers and music publishers. These cutbacks, if confirmed by the CRB, would be detrimental to your future income stream. BMI will do everything in its power to make sure that the CRB understands the importance — and the urgency — of the issues now before it. The latest news on this most important public policy debate is available in the legislative section of our website at http://www.bmi.com/legislation.
On the mobile entertainment front, BMI recently completed an agreement with Verizon Wireless for its ringback tone service, which it markets as “Callertones.” A ringback tone is a musical work that is heard by callers when they place a call to a participating mobile subscriber. Ringback tones are one of the fastest growing categories in the mobile entertainment sector. Under the terms of the agreement, BMI will receive license fees from Verizon that will be allocated to BMI-licensed works according the number of times each work was sold as a ringback tone in the reporting period.
In our last letter, we outlined the advantages of signing up for Direct Deposit of your royalties and received a positive response from a large number of our songwriters, composers and publishers. As we noted, you can avoid any delay in receiving your royalty payments by signing up for either Direct Deposit to your bank account or “The Card,” which allows songwriters and composers who do not currently have a bank account to enjoy the advantages of an ATM card for access to their BMI royalties. Both programs offer instant access to your royalty payments without the worry of waiting for checks to arrive, cashing them or misplacing them. Applications are available on bmi.com.
Our congratulations go to Amy Winehouse, Kanye West, Herbie Hancock and all those songwriters and composers honored at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, held last month in Los Angeles. Congratulations also to Vanessa Bell Armstrong, The Mighty Clouds of Joy and Pastor Marvin Winans, who were honored earlier this year at BMI’s Trailblazers of Gospel Music celebration.
With the spring season upon us, we at BMI, as always, hope your creativity continues to blossom.
Sincerely,
Del Bryant
President
Chief Executive Officer