BMI going "FOR PROFIT" - is ASCAP next?

I'm on the fence about this one. I think the reality is that US PRO's are in competition with each other and their strength depends on their share of the market (which is us). They keep track of their competitor's rates and seem to adjust as needed to stay competitive. Hard to imagine that one of them would decrease their payouts dramatically if the other two are increasing or holding steady.

We push for more advanced performance tracking, more transparent and accurate payouts, more individual customer service attention, more user-friendly catalog registration and organization, etc. Each one of those represents a significant cost and at this point, for BMI anyway, probably requires a massive overhaul of their entire antiquated system. At the same time we demand higher rates. Not sure how they can accomplish both at the same time operating as a non-profit. Ever the optimist, I can see a scenario where they fund new tech and systems via investor money and provide us with at least a few of the things we've been asking for.

Sounds like they had the same realization 

Only the govt. gets away with that

I think if they spent less time preparing for SXSW and Aspen Film festivals and such, and hire a receptionist who is actually a people person, actually make an effort to return communications - be it phone messages or emails, and instead of promoting "BMI" as an entity in and of itself - start making smart contracts and putting money in the hands of those that have contracted with them.......we'd be a world ahead. Wasn't that their mandate? Am I their servant - or do they work for me? They are spending our money promoting themselves. Maybe that's a "for profit" mentality and where they obviously want to go. When I signed up, they were working on my behalf. Not anymore. BMI 20 years ago was worlds ahead of where they have ended up in 2022. It's a leadership problem - not a non/for profit problem. At least that's my perspective.

Nevermind.  

Ultimately time will tell. They are going to have to double or triple their incoming monies to keep their associates at status quo and still bring in enough for Goldman-Sachs. Let's see how that plays out. Might have been nice to have shared the game plan, cause the way they have described things in the past - the money is getting smaller - not bigger.

Not sure about the other two, but BMI has been increasing revenue every year while keeping around 100 million for themselves (except for 2021 when they distributed all but about 30 million, presumably to help affiliates through the pandemic).

Time will definitely tell.  SESAC provides something of an example of how a for-profit BMI might function.  Their rates aren't dropping as far as I'm aware, even after Blackstone bought them.  

Again, the PRO's know that they have to stay competitive with each other so it's unlikely in any scenario that one PRO will pull the rug out for their affiliates. It's counterintuitive to think they would.

How else might this affect us?  Well, SESAC actually dropped writers and is selective about who they bring on.  They are very intentional about it and they seem to treat their roster like an investment portfolio, rebalancing as they see fit.  I wouldn't be surprised if BMI made a similar move.  They have more affiliates than any other PRO by far...maybe they'll trim the writer fat in addition to the internal layoffs, etc.

We'll see.  

BMI has been trying their best to get people (esp those just starting out) to sign up for at least a decade.  I'd hazard to guess that most of them have virtually no activity to speak of.  I know lots of BMI musicians that don't even get a statement (no placements).  So if they take the SESAC approach, they will heavily thin the roster.

I've been ASCAP for 50 years. Never thought to change, although I'd heard occasionally BMI payed better. In the digital age, with the blurring of what is performance and what has now replaced "sales," much of what might be called performance earnings has bypassed PRO's and goes directly to publishers and recording rights holders.

I'm glad PRO's exist. I don't quite understand how a profit motive would incentivize a PRO one way or another. Just attract more clients that earn revenue? Shake down more restaurants, bars and retail stores?