What Is BIEM?

And what does it mean for me?

The International Bureau of Companies Managing Registration and Mechanical Reproduction Rights (BIEM) represents 61 collection societies from 58 different countries. Some are Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) that handle both mechanical and performance rights — including JASRAC, GEMA, and SGAE — and some are simply Mechanical Rights Organizations (MROs) that deal with the reproduction of musical, literary, and dramatic works.

BIEM members enter mutually beneficial agreements that allow them to represent the protected repertoire of fellow members. In this way, BIEM is able to license the vast majority of musical works in the world for its users.

Depending on where you are affiliated, BIEM writers may have an adjusted mechanical royalty rate collected by their publisher. You can find out which societies BIEM is associated with on their website. If you are a BIEM writer and are a current Songtrust client, please use our Support Form to submit a ticket and reach our Client Services Team and we can discuss your rates in detail. You can find this form by logging into your account and finding the link on your client dashboard.

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