October 16, 1997

BMI Develops Robot to Monitor Online Music Sales

By DAVID BAUDER

EW YORK (AP) -- BMI, the music licensing agency, said Wednesday it has developed a "Web robot" to monitor transmission and sales of music on the Internet, a possible precursor to messy copyright battles.

An estimated 26,000 Web sites use some form of music and only a handful have licensing agreements with BMI, the organization said.

BMI represents more than 180,000 songwriters and song publishers and is responsible for making sure they are compensated when their work is performed. In a simpler age, it meant keeping track of jukebox and radio play of songs.

Related Column Music Web Sites Fall to Copyright and Trademark Laws (May 30, 1996)

Until development of its "Musicbot" system, the agency has been unable to get a grip on the explosion of outlets where people can buy, trade or simply listen to music on the Internet.

Many people who use music on Web sites are simply unaware of copyright laws, said BMI president and CEO Frances Preston.

"The sophisticated people who are doing the larger Web sites are certainly aware of the rights of intellectual property," she said. "They should come forward and secure the proper rights. But they don't."

BMI's invention works as a lightning-fast Web surfer to identify sites that use music and how often computer users visit them. It can potentially be used to keep track of the most popular music bought or transmitted on the Web, sort of a cyber top 10.

“Clearly, the trend is the music industry is evolving into an online entity, a more virtual marketplace.”
Joanne Marino, Webnoize

It also serves to put Web site designers on notice that BMI is watching. Although BMI has not started any legal proceedings against potential copyright violators on the Web, "it stands to reason in the future that it will happen," said Richard Conlon, a BMI vice president.

Teen-agers who download a copy of the latest Nine Inch Nails song from a friend shouldn't worry too much. But services that sell large amounts of music may hear from BMI, said Joanne Marino, editor-in-chief of Webnoize, a music and media trade publication.

BMI is also expected to do battle with record companies that disseminate music through Web sites, she said.

"Clearly, the trend is the music industry is evolving into an online entity, a more virtual marketplace," Marino said. "Anything that provides a way for the industry to become more educated" about the Internet is helpful, she said.

BMI doesn't see online music as a particularly fruitful source of revenue right now, but it wanted to be in a position to take advantage of it if the Web continues to grow exponentially as a music source, Conlon said.

---

Related Sites
Following are links to the external Web sites mentioned in this article. These sites are not part of The New York Times on the Web, and The Times has no control over their content or availability. When you have finished visiting any of these sites, you will be able to return to this page by clicking on your Web browser's "Back" button or icon until this page reappears.

• BMI

• Webnoize

Home | Sections | Contents | Search | Forums | Help Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company