BMI reported record-setting revenue and royalty distributions for its fiscal year that ended June 30th. The Company announced it has distributed and administered $1.471 billion to its songwriters, composers and publishers, its highest distribution ever, up $136 million or 10% over last year.
In addition, BMI once again set revenue records with $1.573 billion, a $212 million or 16% increase compared to last year. For the seventh consecutive year, BMI’s results represent the highest reported public performance revenue and royalty distributions of any music rights organization in the world.
“We had an exceptionally strong year thanks to the incredible popularity of the BMI repertoire, allowing us to deliver the highest royalty distributions in BMI’s history,” said Mike O’Neill, President & CEO, BMI. “Providing this financial stability to our outstanding creative community is a gratifying culmination of BMI’s efforts every day on behalf of our songwriters, composers and publishers. Moving forward, we will continue to maximize the value of our affiliates’ music and ensure that our company is well positioned to deliver growth for our creators and copyright owners well into the future.”
BMI’s total distributions of $1.471 billion include domestic and international royalties as well as distributions from direct deals between BMI publishers and digital service providers that BMI administers on their behalf. Those direct deals, which make up approximately 3% of BMI’s overall distribution, totaled $49 million, or $36 million less than the previous year. That number is lower because certain licensing partners have decided to forego direct deals and have come back to BMI to handle their licensing needs
Revenue from digital sources represented 48% of BMI’s domestic total with $572 million, an increase of $149 million, or 35%, compared to last year. Growth was seen across all digital sectors, with notable increases in subscription video-on-demand services such as Netflix, Disney+, AppleTV+ and Peacock. BMI also executed new digital audiovisual agreements with Roku, Vudu, Equinox+ and Snapchat, among others.
Total domestic media licensing revenue, comprised of cable & satellite, broadcast television and radio, came in at $479 million, an increase of $7 million, or 2%, over last year. Of this, cable and satellite-derived revenue totaled $270.3 million, holding steady with last year. Radio revenues totaled $114.2 million, an increase of 6%. Broadcast television revenue came in at $94.3 million, in line with last year’s totals.
General Licensing, along with other income, was up 10% year-to-year with $140 million. This total is approaching pre-pandemic revenue levels. The Company’s international revenue grew to $382 million, up $43 million, or 13%, over last year.
Over 100,000 new songwriters, composers and publishers joined BMI this year, bringing the company’s affiliate membership to more than 1.3 million. This year, BMI processed approximately 2.23 trillion performances, up 13% over last year. Of that total, 2.21 trillion were digital performances, and over 260 billion of those were digital audio-visual performances, a 7% increase over last year highlighting the continued growth of this sector. BMI’s number of licensed musical works grew by 10% this year, bringing the total to 20.6 million.
