Editing Broadcast Music, Inc. (section)

==History==
In the 1930s, radio was coming to prominence as a source of musical entertainment that threatened to weaken record sales and opportunities for "live" acts. The [[Great Depression]] was already draining artist revenues from recordings and live performances. [[American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers|ASCAP]], the pre-eminent royalty/licensing agency for more than two decades, required radio stations to subscribe to "blanket" licenses granting ASCAP a fixed percentage of each station's revenue, regardless of how much music the station played from ASCAP's repertoire.  In 1939, ASCAP announced a substantial increase in the revenue share licensees would be required to pay. BMI was founded by the [[National Association of Broadcasters]] to provide a lower-cost alternative to ASCAP.<ref>{{cite journal | title = NAB Creates $1,500,000 Music Project | last = Taishoff | first = Sol | journal = Broadcasting | volume = 17 | issue = 6 | date = September 15, 1939 | page = 9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Collection: Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) collection {{!}} Archival Collections|url=https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/2/resources/1656|access-date=October 22, 2020|website=archives.lib.umd.edu}}</ref> As such, BMI created competition in the field of performing rights, providing an alternative source of licensing for all music users.

The vast majority of U.S. radio stations, and all three radio networks, refused to renew their ASCAP licenses for 1941, choosing to forgo playing ASCAP music entirely and relying on the BMI repertoire. In February 1941, similar to the agreement it had made with ASCAP, the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] and BMI entered into a consent decree, requiring certain changes to BMI's business model, including giving licensees the option of paying only for the music they actually used instead of buying a blanket license.<ref>The dispute between ASCAP and the radio industry is the subject of major articles in every issue of ''Broadcasting'' from mid-1939 through early 1941.  The text of the consent decree is published in the February 3, 1941, issue, beginning on page 22.</ref>  The U.S. District Court in Milwaukee was chosen by the Justice Department to supervise the decree for both BMI and ASCAP.<ref>{{cite journal | journal = Broadcasting | date = March 24, 1941 | title = Milwaukee Preferred: Waters Preference for Damm Led to Selection | page = 40 | volume = 20 | issue = 11}}</ref>

Competing against the strongly established ASCAP, BMI sought out artists that ASCAP tended to overlook or ignore. BMI also purchased the rights to numerous catalogs held by independent publishers or whose ASCAP contracts were about to expire.  To attract newer writers, BMI proposed to compensate songwriters and publishers on the basis of a fixed fee per performance, as opposed to ASCAP's two-tier system, which discriminated against less-established songwriters.  Thus, despite its original motivation regarding radio station royalties and its focus on radio station revenues versus artist revenues, BMI became the first performing rights organization in the United States to represent songwriters of [[blues]], [[jazz]], [[rhythm and blues]], [[gospel music|gospel]] (black genres, performers, and writers that ASCAP did not want to represent), [[country music|country]], [[traditional music|folk]], [[Latin American music|Latin]], and—ultimately—[[rock and roll]]. During the 1940s and 1950s, BMI was the primary licensing organization for country artists and R&B artists, while ASCAP centered on more established Pop artists. Also during that time, BMI expanded its repertoire of [[classical music]], and now represents the majority<ref>{{cite web|title=BMI Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters|url=http://www.bmi.com/genres/entry/bmi_members_american_academy_of_arts_and_letters|website=BMI|publisher=BMI|access-date=September 15, 2015}}</ref> of the members of the prestigious [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] and the winners of 31 [[Pulitzer Prize for Music|Pulitzer Prizes for Music]].<ref>{{cite web|title=BMI Pulitzer Prize Winners |url=http://www.bmi.com/genres/entry/bmi_pulitzer_prize_winners|website=BMI|publisher=BMI|access-date=September 15, 2015}}</ref>

BMI's practice of selling only "blanket licenses", rather than licenses for individual songs, led to a major [[antitrust law]] dispute between BMI and [[CBS]], that resulted in the 1979 case, ''[[Broadcast Music, Inc. v. CBS, Inc.]]'', in which the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] held that the  prohibition of "price fixing" by the [[Sherman Act]] was not strictly literal, and should be interpreted in light of the economic efficiencies an agreement brings.

In July 2017, BMI renewed long-term partnership with [[C3 Presents]], the world's largest music festival producer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.musicconnection.com/bmi-c3-presents-sign-long-term-agreement/|title=BMI and C3 Presents Sign Long-Term Partnership Agreement|website=www.musicconnection.com|date=July 24, 2017|language=en-US|access-date=November 10, 2017}}</ref>

In November 2023, BMI agreed to be acquired by an investor group led by [[New Mountain Capital]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Music rights giant BMI to be bought by New Mountain-led group |url=https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/music-rights-giant-bmi-be-bought-by-new-mountain-led-group-2023-11-21/ |website=Reuters |access-date=22 November 2023 |language=en |date=21 November 2023}}</ref>