US publishing royalties society BMI yesterday announced it had completed a licensing agreement with SpiralFrog, the much reported new download platform that plans to make digital music available to the consumer for free, funded by advertising sales. The deal means that SpiralFrog can make available songs from BMI's catalogue of 6.5 million works - providing, of course, that they have the permission of whoever owns the rights to the recordings of those songs. The specifics of the deal are not known, but BMI and the songwriters and publishers they represent will presumably receive a share of ad revenues earned by their music.
Confirming the deal, BMI President Del Bryant told CMU: "Songwriters create the musical excitement that attracts the public to digital entertainment. SpiralFrog's fresh approach to offering music in an advertising-driven model opens an exciting new opportunity for the public to discover our music. We are pleased to be working with SpiralFrog as a BMI licensee to expand the opportunity for legitimate music distribution in the digital domain".
SpiralFrog chairman Joe Mohen added: "SpiralFrog is enthusiastic about this license. It is only with support of industry leaders like BMI that we can help create market-driven solutions to internet piracy so that young people can get the music they want from legitimate sources. BMI has been a leader in licensing all genres of music since it was created in 1939, and now, just as it was then, it is taking the lead in granting new licenses on commercially reasonable terms. Their business solutions allow legitimate internet companies like ours to compete with pirate sites".