BMI To Celebrate 75th Anniversary

BMI will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding in 2014. The company will celebrate this milestone with a year-long program of events and projects, kicking off with the release of 75 Years of American Music, a coffee table book by SPIN magazine founder Bob Guccione, Jr.

“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.”

The book, which uses media from BMI archives to chronicle the story of American music, will be presented at BMI’s National Association of Broadcasters dinner in April of 2014. BMI was organized in 1939 and originally managed through the NAB. Additional audio, audiovisual, printed material and programming will be produced throughout the year, including archival and current video footage on BMI TV, which will be released virally and on bmi.com.

BMI President Del Bryant commented on the company’s anniversary, saying, “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.”