Music Licensing for Events

We’ve just had our first ping from a large race who got a notice from BMI saying there was a need to have a license for playing music at their event. Some DJ’s or bands may handle this licensing directly, but we thought we would provide some information and links for races who need to look into this themselves. Note: We are not experts at this, so please contact the licensing firms for more information.

First, here is an article talking about the need – http://running.net/read_new/races-must-have-license-play-music.

There are two major places to license music from – ASCAP and BMI. While you should check with them directly, it seems ASCAP might be less expensive. From the ASCAP Contract and the BMI Contract as of February, 2016:

ASCAP – $132 minimum:

BMI – $237 minimum: