US royalties body BMI has reported that its revenues in the financial year 2005/2006 were up 7% year on year to more than £779 million. That, according to BMI CEO Del Bryant, is the largest performing right income of any copyright organisation and, combined with a decrease in operating costs from 14.2% to 13.2%, means that the payout to the organisation's songwriters, composers and publishers is up 8.2% to $676 million.
Among the areas with the biggest increases for BMI were cable television revenue, which grew by $24 million, international revenue, which was up to $204 million, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, new media revenues, which were up by $16 million.