Artist Growth, BMI Partner to Streamline Live Performance Royalty Reporting

Mobile software platform developer Artist Growth and NYC-based BMI recently announced a new partnership which streamlines live performance royalties for musicians.

The Artist Growth app streamlines live performance royalty reporting for artists.

According to Artist Growth this partnership is the first integration of its kind. It enables BMI artists to register for live performance royalties from any mobile device with the Artist Growth app as soon as they leave the stage.

100% of all ensuing royalties go to the artist. Artist Growth does not receive a percentage for facilitating the transaction – instead, the company’s revenue is based on a monthly $4.99 subscription to use the service. All BMI members are currently being offered a six-month free trial of the Artist Growth platform.

At SXSW 2012, Artist Growth also announced partnerships, offering six-month free trials of the platform, with the following entities:

– CD Baby
– Americana Music Association
– PledgeMusic
– Folk Alliance
– NYU Steinhardt’s Music Business Program
– University of Central Oklahoma’s Academy of Contemporary Music
– Belmont University
– Northern Arizona University

In addition, registration with Artist Growth is now free for all users and can be done directly from the mobile app.

”Live performance royalties are relatively new,” explains Matt Urmy, CEO of Artist Growth, “but Performance Rights Organizations (PRO’s) collect these blanket licenses — they call it ‘licensing a venue.’ They go out to all these venues – restaurants, bars, theaters, any establishment that plays music, and they say, ‘You’re a business and you’re playing music in here, and entertaining your customers and guests is part of what brings in music and helps you make money. We represent the artists that make the music that helps you get business into your establishment. And since you’re using their art, which we represent, you need to pay us a fee to be able to do that.’  So, the PROs collect all that money and distribute it out to the artists they represent.

“BMI, for example, has over 400,000 artists that are affiliated with them,” Urmy continues. “They collect money for all these licenses all year long from venues, big and small – restaurants, diners, coffee shops, as well as theaters, stadiums, etc… And now, with live performance royalties, what an artist that is affiliated with BMI does is send them the set lists they played at the venues that pay the licensing fees to BMI every year.”

There are a variety of factors that ultimately determine BMI’s royalty payout for a live performance. “BMI Live makes it possible for BMI to pay songwriters for performances that don’t fall into the top 300 concert tours and live events, which are already tracked for royalties,” says Urmy. “Payment for a BMI Live performance is determined by the size of the venue where the performance occurred and the general licensing fees available for distribution. Since the number of participants and the amount of the license fees collected by BMI can change from quarter to quarter, the BMI Live royalty payments may vary as well.”

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