A Royal Victory for BMI Songwriters

After coming out victorious in a legal dispute with Live Nation, AEG and the North American Concert Promoters Association, BMI has ensured that its affiliates will now receive a 138% increase in royalties earned from live music revenue, including concert tickets sold on the secondary market, service fees and VIP packages.

What they're saying: “We are gratified the [Southern District of New York] Court agreed with BMI’s position that the music created by songwriters and composers is the backbone of the live concert industry and should be valued accordingly,” wrote president and CEO Mike O’Neill in a statement. “Today’s decision also underscores BMI’s continued mission to fight on behalf of our affiliates, no matter how long it takes, to ensure they receive fair value for their creative work.”

The executive also took a moment to fire one last shot across the waters, noting that BMI, while “thrilled” about the decision, still finds it “incredibly disappointing that it took millions of dollars and years of litigation to get Live Nation, AEG and NACPA to finally pay songwriters, composers and publishers what they deserve.”

Live Nation plays it cool: A representative for the entertainment company afterward downplayed BMI’s victory by pointing out that a majority of the extra revenue going to songwriters will come out of artists’ paychecks, not from the promoters – plus, Live Nation was able to hold the court-ordered increase to “less than ⅓ of BMI’s proposed increase.” This legally translates to: “neener, neener, neener.”