BMI’s music site

Each week, the Browser features some pop-culture places on the World Wide Web offering the coolest in free interactive sounds and action.

BMI on the Web

Copyright protector to more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and publishers, BMI has a cyber-stop (www.bmi.com) that will appeal to most online music lovers, even those plugged into the latest listening trends.

The front page leads to the Musicworld section, which overloads peepers with text biographies of 900 bands and artists. Each page links to Amazon.com, where visitors can hear snippets of songs and, of course, purchase music.

However, BMI’s site really succeeds through its Video section, delivering an incredible selection of segments, including 600 interviews and more than 100 performances.

After visitors pick a download speed and choose between Real Player or QuickTime delivery, they are privy to audiovisual nuggets such as coverage of the 2004 BMI Country Awards and Brian Wilson at the 2004 Pop Awards. The latter clip includes an interview with Mr. Wilson and a performance with his harmonious offspring in Wilson Phillips, which got back together to perform a version of the Beach Boys’ classic “In My Room.”

Interviews range from Chuck Berry discussing his simple writing process and the Kinks’ Ray Davies on receiving awards to ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons talking about the importance of respecting music legends.

Performance videos highlight veterans such as Rosanne Cash, John Doe and Al Green while mixing in mayhem from lesser-known acts, including Dallas’ Jibe, the United Kingdom’s Happylife and Portland, Ore.’s Helio Sequence.

To beef up its sound-delivery potential, BMI recently added a monthly Podcast to offer another way of exposing emerging BMI artists to industry bigwigs and, more important, fans.

Called “See It Hear First,” the broadcasts, averaging 17 minutes each, come in an MP3 format and can be accessed via a subscription. The subscription can be downloaded automatically to popular portable audio players, such as Apple’s IPod, or can be enjoyed right from the Web site.

Each show accessed via the Web offers the option of hearing the full Podcast or just listening to song tracks presenting a variety of musical genres.

The fourth and most recent edition of “See It Hear First” includes songs and Casey Kasem-like narrated bios on current CMJ Showcase acts King Elementary, Nightmare of You, the Novaks, the Royal Highness and Captain.

Previous shows are archived for the listeners at Apple’s ITunes Web site (www.itunes.com) and at the bottom of the main Podcast page (music.bmi.com/podcast).

The archived programs lead to more great tunes from up-and-coming stars such as the obviously Iggy Pop- and Siouxsie Sioux-influenced Plebz and the female punk trio the Ettes and an interview with Capitol Records recording artist Brendan James.

Cyber Sudoku

Story Continues →