November 2021
Dear Songwriter, Composer and Publisher,
I hope you and your loved ones are doing well. Here at BMI, our team is starting to safely transition back to the office, and we’re excited to continue providing seamless service to you as we look ahead to a new year filled with opportunity. For the first time ever, we’re so pleased to deliver this one-time fifth quarterly distribution as we transition to a new distribution schedule. Our intention is that this additional distribution, covering all performances from second quarter 2021 that would typically have been paid out in January 2022, maximizes your 2021 royalties and minimizes any financial impact you may have experienced during the pandemic.
As we’ve been sharing, starting in 2022 BMI will implement a new distribution schedule with one distribution per calendar quarter, each February, May, August and November. Notably, payments will be slightly accelerated, with royalties delivered one to two months faster from performance to payment than with our prior royalty distribution schedule. We hope this new schedule will be helpful to our creative community moving forward.
In addition to the royalties mentioned above, if your works were performed on the following services, this distribution includes payments for Apple TVOD from 2018 and 2019, as well as for Fandango Now from 2015 through 2018. You’ll also see first-time payments for Starz streaming performances from first and second quarters of 2021. Moreover, BMI is pleased to be onboarding several new digital fitness services and we look forward to the expanded use of your music in that area.
As a reminder, BMI has launched an Online Services password reset program. With so many different passwords to remember, it’s easy to forget which one goes where. To ensure you always have access to your BMI Online Services account, please make sure we have your current email address and mobile phone number so that you can receive a text or email from us with simple instructions on how to reset your password should you need to. This will streamline the process, eliminating the need for a phone call and reducing wait time to gain access to your account. To update your email address and mobile number, please log into your Online Services account and select “Edit User Profile.”
Although it’s been only two months since my last letter, we have many affiliates to congratulate on recent wins and recognitions. To all our BMI London Award winners and BMI Country Award winners, we’re thrilled to honor you with our special online tributes that celebrate your spectacular success and incredible music. Kudos also go to our World Soundtrack Award winners, Dove Award winners, Americana Award winners, Ivors with Apple Music Award winners, Latin GRAMMY nominees and our NaSHOF inductees. In addition to these truly deserved accolades, BMI is proud to celebrate Hip-Hop History Month this November, as we did with Country Music Month in October, and Hispanic Heritage Month, which spanned September 15 to October 15. We also recently launched our new Latin genre page on our site, which is a wonderful hub to highlight our affiliates creating the best in Latin music today.
As always, stay well and enjoy the upcoming holidays. On behalf of everyone at BMI, we wish you, your family and friends a wonderful Thanksgiving and the very best that 2022 has to offer.
Sincerely,
Mike O'Neill
President and Chief Executive Officer