BMG turned to its own songwriting clients for help in launching its latest venture -- a sophisticated app that provides up-to-date earnings information for songwriters, based on its online MyBMG 3.0 royalties portal.
The app, unveiled on Android and iOS for the first time Wednesday (Aug 16), includes royalty information from the current period (pipeline) and analytics on trends along with earnings by song, country and source. All this was engineered in collaboration with Grammy-nominated songwriter Jenn Decilveo (Rise Up), Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart and Broadway composer Maury Yeston.
“It was a very different experience to the usual process of software development. We were working hand-in-hand with songwriters trying to tease out exactly the information which is most important to them and then ensuring we present that data in as accessible a way as possible," said project leader Anke Becker in a release. "The result we believe is the most user friendly royalties application on the market. We wanted to not only make the product the most transparent, but also make the process of creating and innovating the product transparent and inclusive.”
For example, the app's dashboard includes the client's last statement balance, pipeline royalties being processed, the date for the next due statement and a graph depicting royalties trends year-to-year. From there, clients can track earnings by territory, song and other specifics.
It's been a long time coming. MyBMG was part of the initial plan for the company, which launched in 2008 with a goal to harness the power of digital to offer artists and songwriters greater transparency. The web portal was unveiled in March, and what started as a basic statement download service has evolved into the constantly-updated, configurable 3.0 app version of MyBMG available now.
By 2018, BMG plans to incorporate its recording artist clients into the MyBMG portal as well.
"It is incredible how far we have come from the old days of the paper royalty statement," said Yeston. "It’s the kind of collaborative approach I like about BMG. I am certain that the involvement of us songwriters will give a far more authentic and personal experience for users of the app."
Adds Stewart: “This is a great tool and a wonderful move forward towards helping songwriters understand where they stand, something that has been badly needed since the dawn of copyright."
MyBMG is the latest in a string of digital efforts from music companies that aim to help songwriters track and understand their earnings in real-time. Sony/ATV Music Publishing upgraded its own royalty portal, SCORE, in May, and the Kobalt-owned AWAL released a similar app for artists, labels and managers to track presence on Spotify and Apple Music.
