Many web sites base their business on the use of music, while others offer it as an adjunct or compliment to the rest of the content on their site. BMI offers several licensing options in recognition of the diverse and evolving nature of business on the web. The different rate calculations make sure that a reasonable value is placed on your particular use of music.

Internet web sites fall under three main license types: (1) the Standard Web Site Music Performance Agreement; (2) the Corporate Image Web Site Music Performance Agreement; and (3) the Non-Commercial Web Site Music Performance Agreement.

(1) The Standard Web Site Music Performance Agreement is generally for commercial entities that generate revenues from the operation of the web site. This license offers the flexibility to choose from two financial calculations to determine your license fee based on the nature of your web site as follows:

(A.) The Gross Revenue calculation can be used if you are using music as a primary feature on your web site. (B.) The Music Area Calculation allows you to reduce the revenues subject to fee by factoring the traffic to pages with music in relation to your total web site traffic.

You can choose the most economical calculation for your particular web site upon submitting your first financial revenue report, and you can change the calculation under which you file up to four times in a calendar year, depending on which is best suited to your business. If your business model changes and you decide to add more music to your site, you can switch calculations and save money.

(2) The Corporate Image Web Site Music Performance Agreement is used If your website’s primary function is to promote your business or corporate image, or generates little or no direct attributable revenue from music. The Corporate Image License has a rate based on traffic to pages on your web site.

(3) The Non-Commercial Web Site Music Performance Agreement is offered to any Bona fide 501(C)(3) Not-For Profit Organizations, churches, schools or other related charitable organizations to cover the use of BMI music on their web sites. The Non-Commercial Web Site License has a rate based on traffic to pages on your web site.

We recommend that you test both financial report calculations each time you report in order to determine which method works best for your web site. First calculate what the web site license fee would be at 1.75% of your Total Gross Revenue. Then, calculate the web site Music Area Fee. In order to calculate the Music Area Fee, you must calculate your Music Area Revenue.

To calculate your Music Area Revenue, add your Direct Music Area Revenue to the Allocation of Run-Of-Site Revenue. To calculate the Allocation of Run-Of-Site Revenue, multiply your Run-Of-Site Revenue by a fraction the numerator of which is total Music Page Impressions and the denominator of which is total Page Impressions. Your Music Area License Fee will be the greater of (1) Music Area Revenue multiplied by 2.5%; AND (2) Music Page Impressions divided by 1,000 and multiplied by $0.12.

After you’ve made both the Gross Revenue calculation and the Music Area Revenue calculation, compare your license fee under each and file accordingly.

The annual minimum fee for 2016 is $352.00 (with an annual CPI adjustment for subsequent years) depending on your annual Gross Revenues or traffic to your web site, ensures that you are licensed and is applied against any additional fees that are calculated in your report form.

Your BMI license covers BMI music which is made available on a web site either owned, operated or controlled by the licensee and delivered to end users from the URL(s) which are listed on the license. Please remember that this license does not cover the transmission of music made available on a web site not listed under your agreement.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please be advised that BMI’s Internet licenses may not include the right to publicly perform all BMI-licensed musical works for certain types of Internet transmissions. Please contact BMI’s Internet licensing team at [email protected] if you have questions about which works, or which types of transmissions, may be impacted.

The term of this license is the date of execution through Dec. 31st of the same year and continuing on a year to year basis thereafter. Either party has the option to terminate the agreement at the end of the year, beginning with the end of the year the license was executed, upon 60 days prior written notice.

Gross Revenues include revenues generated from advertising, sponsorship, subscriptions, donations, commissions from third party transactions, the fair market value of goods and services received in lieu of cash consideration (trade and barter), and proprietary software.

The revenues that you may generate from the sale of physical pre-recorded music product are not included in Gross Revenues under the Agreement. Commissions received from third party transactions, however, must be reported as Gross Revenues.

The minimum fee is due upon execution of the agreement, and due by January 31 on a yearly basis thereafter. Financial Reports must be filed either annually or quarterly. Annual Financial Reports are due by March 31st of each calendar year. Quarterly Financial Reports are due at the end of each quarter (i.e. March 31st, June 30th, September 30th, December 31st). When the fee exceeds the annual minimum fee amount already paid for the year being reported, then any additional payments will be due at that time.

A page impression is a transfer request for a single page. Page impressions sometimes known as page views, not hits are the preferred counting method for site-traffic estimates and measurements. Impressions are the number of times an image is requested by the visitor’s browser.

A music page is a web page with any links to audio, or multimedia files, which contain music. It can also be a page that has music playing upon the loading of the page.

A Music Page Impression is a transfer request for a single Music Page.

Separate financial and music use reports, and separate payments including minimum fee payments, are necessary for each of your web site listed on Exhibit A of your Agreement.

Your company only has to sign one Agreement, regardless of how many web sites you own or control unless any of those web sites fall under a different license type. Spaces are provided for each URL in the license agreement and attachments (extensions) will be provided if new sites are added.

Under the terms of the license agreement you are required to submit separate annual or quarterly financial reports as well as quarterly music use reports.

For each period that you report, you can choose whichever license fee calculation saves you money.

In order to distribute performance royalties to the songwriters and publishers whose music you use, BMI will ask for information pertaining to the performances of music on your site. You will be asked to identify the sound files which are or were available on your site, including the name and contents of those files and to submit statistics that show accesses to files containing music.

A BMI music performance license grants businesses the right to publicly perform BMI affiliated music. With one agreement, BMI provides unlimited access to nearly 12 million musical works by more than 750,000 BMI-affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers. A web site that publicly performs music can save time and money by signing an agreement with BMI, rather than negotiating individual agreements with each writer and/or music publisher whose music they wish to use. BMI offers flexible licensing options for web sites that take into consideration the diverse and evolving nature of business models on the Internet. On behalf of our affiliated songwriters, composers, and music publishers, BMI licenses all types of business, including web sites, to publicly perform the nearly 12 million works in the BMI repertoire.