Artists get their share of $1.7 BMI sale: ‘The music crime of the century’

When BMI sold to New Mountain Capital earlier this year for a reported $1.7 billion, the performing rights organization promised its former songwriter and publisher shareholders $100 million in payments.

These sales allocation distributions were released on Wednesday with the PRO offering only limited insight into how they were calculated:

“BMI carefully considered the parameters for the allocation in order to be as inclusive as possible and apply to the greatest number of earning BMI affiliates. The allocation is based on total earnings over a period of time and is not a traditional distribution of royalties.”

Artists are now receiving their checks, and many are underwhelmed by their share of the distribution.

“the music crime of the century”

“For 40 years I helped build a performing rights organization (BMI) and all I got was this lousy check,” write Cracker frontman and artist advocate David Lowery after receiving his $800 payout.

“This is actually the music crime of the century. It’s too complicated to explain here, but BMI was a non-profit that represented songwriters and publishers,” Lowery continued. “We parked all our songs her for performance rights. The board turned it into a private company and then sold it off for a couple billion to Silicon Valley billionaires.”

Artists react

“Who else got the BMI sale allocation disbursement 🧐 am I really only worth $350 to Broadcast Music Inc?!” wrote one songwriter.

Several others reported checks of around $150 but had expected more.

“Anybody else get a few dollars from the BMI sale to a private equity firm? Think I’ll go out for breakfast, this will just about cover it,” wrote singer/songwriter Amy Rigby.

This week’s sales allocation distributions are one-time-only payments and do not affect an artist or publisher’s BMI royalty calculations or payments.