BMI Brings Over 70 Songwriters to Southwest Florida for Island Hopper Songwriters Festival

BMI recently partnered with the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau and iHeartMedia to present the sixth annual Island Hopper Songwriters Festival. The ten-day festival spanned across Captiva Island, Fort Myers Beach and downtown Fort Myers, promoting music creators and songwriters, while also bringing in extra revenue to the local bars, restaurants and hotels.

The festival attracted diverse crowds and featured more than 70 BMI songwriters performing across 21 venues. The goal of the annual festival is to highlight the art of songwriting while boosting the local economy during a notoriously slow travel season by bringing locals and tourists to the hotels and restaurants. This year’s festival attendance, based on venue capacity, increased 16% compared to 2018. The Island Hopper Songwriters Festival has always been a way to help give back to the BMI-licensed businesses in Southwest Florida that have supported BMI songwriters throughout the years with the licensing fees they pay.