Our Story

1940s

BMI opens its doors and welcomes all music creators, regardless of their musical genre. Unlike ASCAP, our only competitor at the time, all are granted membership even if they have no established successful material.

BMI plays a critical role in the rise of country music. Rhythm & Blues makes its appearance in Billboard, with BMI virtually alone in representing R&B creators and publishers, licensing more than 90 percent of R&B radio hits on a weekly basis. Both genres fuse to give birth to a new genre that will sweep America and the world – rock and roll.

1950s

Elvis Presley joins BMI, and in quick succession, other performers including Buddy Holly, Miles Davis, Willie Nelson and Paul Simon follow.

BMI holds its first annual Country Awards and its first annual R&B Awards.

BMI hires Frances Preston to open the Company's Nashville office. As one of the first female music executives in Tennessee, she is a pioneer in the industry and goes on to become President and CEO of BMI until her retirement in 2004.

1960s

Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland all join BMI. In just three years they amass 28 Top 20 hits for Motown acts like the Four Tops and the Supremes, including “Stop! In the Name of Love.”

John Williams signs with BMI. One of the greatest composers of all time, he goes on to score a myriad of iconic films, including Jaws, Superman, Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Harry Potter, among others.

Dolly Parton also signs with BMI, as does Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow.

1970s

Natalie Cole signs with BMI, as does Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Barry and Maurice Gibb and Gloria and Emilio Estefan.

BMI songwriter, John Lennon, delivers “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” a moving message of hope, peace and humanity, while Paul Simon becomes the leading BMI Million Performance Certificate winner.

Dolly Parton rules the charts with such classics as “I Will Always Love You.” Stevie Nicks joins Fleetwood Mac and becomes a role model for generations of aspiring female rockers. Nicks goes on to be given the BMI Icon Award, which honors a BMI songwriter or composer’s unique and indelible influence on generations of music creators.

1980s

BMI Icons, RUN-DMC, make history with their self-titled debut, rap’s first gold album, followed by King of Rock, rap’s first platinum album. With “Walk This Way,” their epic collaboration with Aerosmith, they forever blurred the lines between rap and rock.

BMI Pop Icons, Daryl Hall and John Oates, become the best-selling rock duo of all time, while Roy Orbison joins Elvis Presley as the only singers to ever simultaneously have two top 5 albums on the Billboard charts.

BMI’s first Richard Kirk Award, given to composers who have made significant contributions to the realm of television and film music, is presented to influential composer, Jerry Goldsmith.

1990s

BMI celebrates its 50th anniversary in 1990.

The Righteous Brothers’ song “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” written by Phil Spector, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, becomes the first song to accumulate more than seven million airplays in BMI’s history.

Husband-and-wife team, Robert Lopez and Kristin Anderson-Lopez, meet at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. They go on to win the 2013 Oscar for “Let It Go” from the blockbuster film Frozen, landing Robert in the “EGOT” history book for winning an Emmy, GRAMMY, Oscar and Tony. In 2018, he becomes the first double EGOT winner, when the couple win an Oscar for “Remember Me” from the animated hit film, Coco.

2000s

Del Bryant, a BMI songwriter and employee since 1972, becomes the Company’s new President and CEO.

At 15 years old, Taylor Swift signs with BMI. BMI also signs Lady Gaga and Rihanna.

BMI Icon Awards are presented to Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Didley, James Brown, Bill Anderson, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, Van Morrison, Carlos Santana, Daryl Hall and John Oates.

2010s

Having been employed by BMI since 1994, Mike O’Neill is appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2013. He assumes the additional role of BMI President one year later.

BMI makes tremendous strides on the advocacy front, winning important battles against the Department of Justice to preserve fractional licensing and Pandora to help boost digital streaming rates for creators. BMI also becomes the first music rights organization in the world to deliver over $1 billion in public performance royalties to its affiliates.

#1 global sensation “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi makes Latin music history, and Lil Nas X becomes the artist with the longest-running Billboard Hot 100 #1 in history with "Old Town Road."

"Every Breath You Take," written by Sting and performed by The Police, becomes the most-performed song in BMI's repertoire with 15 million plays.

BMI has been in business for nearly 80 years and continues to be as groundbreaking as ever.