BMI Acquisition Officially Signed and Sealed — With a Promised $100 Million Doled Out to Songwriters, Composers, and Publishers

Photo Credit: New Mountain Capital

New Mountain Capital officially announces its acquisition of BMI, with $100 million of the sale’s proceeds going to stakeholder iHeartMedia.Investment firm New Mountain Capital has announced the completion of its acquisition of Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), one of the world’s largest performing rights organization.

Previously announced in November, the deal includes BMI allocating $100 million of the sale’s proceeds to affiliates. The allocation, while not a distribution of royalties, is “in recognition of the creativity of the songwriters, composers, and publishers they have had the privilege to represent,” while keeping in-line with BMI’s distribution methodologies, “based on performance levels over a set period.”

“Our partnership with New Mountain charts an incredibly exciting new course for BMI and our songwriters, composers, and publishers,” said Mike O’Neill, President and CEO of BMI, who will retain his position, alongside his leadership team. “New Mountain shares our vision to build value for our affiliates and invest in their future success. With their support, advanced level of innovation and resources, we are now in the best possible position to accelerate our growth plan and explore new opportunities to benefit our creative community.”

“We are thrilled to officially begin our partnership with BMI,” added Pet Masucci, Managing Director at New Mountain. “We believe in BMI’s mission and the music creators they represent, and we are looking forward to helping BMI build on their momentum to deliver maximum value to their affiliates.”“Mike O’Neill and his team have set a dynamic path forward for BMI,” concluded Mike Oshinsky, Director at New Mountain. “We are excited to help modernize the performing rights space and support BMI’s mission of serving songwriters, composers, and publishers, and growing their royalty distributions for the long-term.”

As reported by DMN in November, Google parent company Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, will also invest a passive minority stake in BMI as part of New Mountain’s investment.

BMI has represented over 1.4 million songwriters, composers, and publishers since its inception in 1939. Current artists include pop heavyweights Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga, as well as country legend Dolly Parton.