When ideas hit, they can make a big difference in our lives. But only if we stick with them. This follow-through is the backbone of small businesses across America that exist because their owners had an idea that filled a niche. Through a lot of hard work, ingenuity, and a bit of luck, it turned into a livelihood.
BMI understands the process because writing music works much the same way – when creativity hits, the songwriter sings the idea into their phone or grabs a napkin and scribbles it down. Then they either follow through and it becomes a song or it doesn’t. And if it does, the songwriter may play it for a publisher, who may or may not like it. If the publisher does like it, they may play it for an artist or their record label, and they will either like it or they won’t. And even if they do like it, the song may never make the album and the songwriter starts all over again. Bar and restaurant owners know this drill well. They follow-through on creative ideas that may or may not ever work because their businesses depend on them being inventive to keep customers coming back. And that’s why so many of them do stay in business. BMI works with small business owners all the time, whether they’re songwriters or the business owners that play their music publicly. We also work with 64 state and national trade associations in the food and beverage industry, all of which represent small business owners in their state.
It would be a tough road alone and BMI knows that because we see it every day, both in our customers and the songwriters we represent, who really aren’t all that different when it comes to creativity. So how can we help? We take the burden of getting permission to play music in an establishment off the business owner by providing a blanket music license that allows them to play nearly 12 million songs. Songs from artists like Keith Urban, Foo Fighters, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and thousands of other songwriters whose names you may not know but whose music you do. Like Sean Douglas, who helped write the chart-topping “Die A Happy Man,” by Thomas Rhett, or Ross Golan, who wrote Ariana Grande’s mega-hit “Dangerous Woman.”
BMI also offers discounts through the associations we work with, which can save bars and restaurants up to 10%. This is in addition to the 10% Timely Payment Discount we offer to any eating and drinking establishment customer, whether they belong to a participating association or not.
BMI may seem like a big company, but we actually represent small business owners all working toward getting their music into your establishment, so you, and they, can benefit. Check it out at bmi.com or call a BMI representative at (800) 325-1395.
