BMI now gives bonus payments to top streaming songs

BMI announced that it will pay bonuses to the top songs on select streaming platforms. The performing rights organization’s new payment system complements the existing structures for premiums distributed to the top songs on radio and television channels.

The streaming bonuses will go to the top 20% most-played songs on both Spotify and Rhapsody. The first payments will be given for the first quarter of 2015. More streaming services are expected to be added to the bonus system in the future.

Mike O’Neill, the president and CEO of BMI, said that this setup allows the company to issue bonuses to a bigger selection of songs because the streaming platforms have so much more that gets played. According to Billboard, radio’s top 20% is just 377, compared with 627 songs making up the top 20% from streaming.