I got a letter from BMI. Now what?

If a BMI envelope just landed on your desk, take a breath. You are not in trouble yet, and you are not alone — tens of thousands of bar and restaurant owners get one of these every year. BMI is not a scam. But you should not panic-pay either.

Here is the actual playbook: what BMI is, what they can and cannot do, and the calmest way to deal with this so you never get a second letter.

First, what BMI actually is

BMI stands for Broadcast Music, Inc. It is one of four Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) in the United States — the others are ASCAP, SESAC, and GMR. Songwriters and publishers register their songs with a PRO, and the PRO collects royalties from anywhere those songs are publicly performed: radio stations, TV networks, Spotify, and yes, the speakers in your bar.

BMI has been doing this since 1939. They represent over 22 million works by more than 1.4 million songwriters. The vast majority of modern country, hip-hop, and a huge chunk of pop sits in the BMI catalog. If your speakers are on, you are almost certainly playing BMI music.

What BMI can legally do

• •Sue you in federal court.Copyright law gives them statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per song infringed — and up to $150,000 per song if the court finds willful infringement. They almost always recover attorney fees too.
• •Send investigators. BMI uses field reps who walk into bars, write down songs they hear, and timestamp each one. That paperwork is admissible.
• •Win.PROs win these cases at a rate close to 100% because the law is on their side. The question in court is not whether you owe — it is how much.

What BMI cannot do

• •They cannot have you arrested. Copyright infringement of this type is a civil matter, not criminal.
• •They cannot show up tomorrow with a process server unless they have already filed suit. The first letter is almost always a demand for licensing, not a lawsuit.
• •They cannot charge you whatever number they want. BMI has published rate schedules tied to your venue size, music type, and usage. You are entitled to see them.

The actual playbook

1. Do not ignore the letter. Ignoring is the one move that reliably escalates this from a licensing conversation into a lawsuit.
2. Do not call the number on the letter today. You are not legally obligated to respond on their timeline. Take a week to gather information first.
3. Do not pay the invoice blind.Ask BMI to email you their published rate schedule for your venue type. Verify the occupancy and music-use data they have on file — half the time they are billing at the wrong tier.
4. Audit your music sources.Spotify Premium, Apple Music, Pandora consumer accounts — none of these cover commercial use. Spotify for Business covers part of it, but not BMI directly.
5. Get the other three PROs in order at the same time. ASCAP, SESAC and GMR will write you eventually. If you only fix BMI, you are leaving 75% of the exposure on the table.
6. Consult a lawyer for specifics if the letter mentions a specific date of infringement, a specific dollar demand, or threatens imminent suit.

The cheapest end state for your bar is being properly licensed across all four PROs, with predictable monthly payments instead of four surprise lump-sum invoices a year. That is exactly what we do. If you want a sanity check on your BMI exposure before you respond, run a free quote and you will see the per-PRO breakdown in about two minutes.

Why this whole thing feels predatory

You are not crazy for feeling jumped on. The system genuinely is fragmented — four separate organizations, each with their own billing cycle, rate sheet, and renewal date. Most bar owners never hear about PROs until one of them sends a letter, by which point you are already in the system. The PROs collect on real, valid copyright claims, but the way they reach venues feels like an ambush.

That fragmentation is the actual problem we built this company to fix. One quote. One agreement. One monthly payment that covers all four. No more BMI letters, no more ASCAP letters, no more being surprised in March that you forgot to renew SESAC.

This page is general information, not legal advice. For specifics about your letter, consult an attorney.