Broadcast Music, Inc.(R) (BMI(R)), the global leader in music rights management, will celebrate the 75th year of its founding in 2014. To mark this milestone, the Company has announced a year-long program of commemorative projects and events celebrating its history and contributions to the growth of American music. The program will kick off with the introduction of "75 Years of American Music," a coffee table book written and art directed by Bob Guccione, Jr., the founder of SPIN magazine. "75 Years of American Music" will chronicle the story of American music as related through rare images, documents and interviews from the BMI archives interspersed with current voices from influential songwriters, music publishers and entertainment executives and tastemakers.
The book will be presented at the annual invitation-only BMI NAB dinner to be held in April during the National Association of Broadcasters convention. BMI was organized in 1939 by a group of visionary broadcasters and originally managed through the NAB, making its annual convention a fitting venue for the debut of the anniversary book. It will be released in April 2014 in hardcover to select retail outlets, and will be simultaneously distributed as an e-book. Additional audio, audiovisual and printed material and programming will be produced throughout the year, including archival and current video footage on BMI TV to be distributed virally and via bmi.com.
Commenting on the anniversary, BMI President Del Bryant said, "BMI's songwriters, composers and music publishers have often been credited as the spark that ignited the explosion of American music over the past 75 years. We are thrilled to begin marking this milestone anniversary with a spectacular book that captures the explosion of popular music in America, while highlighting BMI's enduring mission: to serve our songwriters, composers and music publishers, so that they can keep creating the music that will define and inspire the next 75 years."
BMI CEO Mike O'Neill added, "We are fortunate to have had a long history representing the world's preeminent musical talent. Now is the perfect opportunity to showcase their incredible stories and contributions through the lens of the BMI narrative. We look forward to celebrating this anniversary throughout 2014 with a multitude of initiatives that salute BMI's history and the diverse history of those we represent."
"BMI has substantially helped shape modern American music, and I'm honored to have been chosen to produce this special anniversary book," said Guccione. "We will chart the awesome narrative of the past 75 years musically and culturally, roughly a third of this nation's entire lifespan. In that time, American music evolved and flowered gloriously, and has perpetually accelerated in terms of excitement and innovation."
About BMI
Broadcast Music, Inc.(R) (BMI(R)) is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in more than 8.5 million musical works created and owned by more than 600,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI's repertoire, from chart-toppers to perennial favorites, span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year. For additional information and the latest BMI news, visit www.bmi.com, follow us on Twitter @BMI or stay connected through Broadcast Music, Inc.'s Facebook page.
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