BMI filed its response to the U.S. Copyright Office’s (USCO) February Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding performing rights organizations (PROs) and how they work. The inquiry was sparked when a coalition of music licensees and their lobbyists raised concerns with Congress about the number of PROs and how royalties are distributed. BMI believes raising these issues is nothing more than the latest attempt by music users to create unnecessary confusion in the marketplace in order to reduce the licensing fees they pay to our songwriters and composers. BMI’s formal response to the USCO outlines our position, the many reasons why the PRO system is effective, and how the music creators’ perspective is completely absent from this conversation.

BMI engaged its creative community to make their voices heard at the Copyright Office—and nearly seven thousand BMI affiliates signed a letter in support of the PROs, amplifying the need to safeguard the rights and royalties of songwriters, composers and publishers.

Regarding today’s filing, Mike O’Neill, BMI’s President & CEO, said, “It’s no surprise that, once again, music users are attempting to underpay songwriters and composers for their creative work. As always, BMI will continue to fight to ensure that does not happen. As our filing today makes clear, we work tirelessly to protect the livelihoods and professions of music creators and copyright owners through the public performance royalties we collect and distribute. Creating confusion in the marketplace in order to further regulate this industry only serves the purposes of the businesses that ultimately want to pay music creators less. We look forward to continuing our discussions with the Copyright Office about the work we do and the ways in which we do it.”

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. BMI is currently the largest music performing rights organization in the U.S. and continues to nurture 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 over 22.4 million musical works created and owned by more than 1.4 million songwriters, composers and music publishers.