How Does BMI Figure Out Which Writers Songs Are Being Played?
BMI distributes royalties to our writers and publishers quarterly, based on the number of public performances each of their works has received from: Radio – BMI monitors almost 4 million hours of radio playlists including all styles and formats, even college radio; TV – Performance information is secured on Network, Cable and Local Television; Commercial Music Services – The lists of music used in licensed services such as Muzak, DMX, Music Choice, etc., is provided to BMI by these companies; New Media (Internet, Ringtone Providers, Digital Jukeboxes, etc.) – The lists of music used by licensed new media are provided to BMI by these companies. BMI licenses and surveys all commercial radio stations in the United States. Each quarter, BMI asks a diverse segment of these stations to list every song they play for a three-day period. Using these results, BMI is able to determine what selection of songs is played and the approximate frequency of their airplay on all stations. Additionally, i
