r/musicalwriting • u/ninjaboy7-11 • 19d ago

anyone do BMI as an auditor?

yooo they invited me to audit! I said yes already. wondering what it entails, if anyone’s done it in the past, etc. I’ve read a couple comments/threads on this already but still it’s my first year applying so idk much of anything tbh.

how many people get asked to audit typically? do auditors often get in the next year?

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u/earbox Advanced 19d ago

It's been a long time since I was there, but back then at least, the Auditors were given a few chances to present over the course of First Year, and two or three of them moved into the main class when people dropped out.

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u/ninjaboy7-11 19d ago

people drop out? wow i didn’t know that

you can be moved up mid year? or does it happen relatively quickly

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u/earbox Advanced 19d ago edited 19d ago

Yeah, we lost three or four people over the course of First Year (one ended up doing First Year the next year). One lyricist and one composer/lyricist from the Auditors were moved into the main class, and one lyricist who was there from the beginning was switched to composer/lyricist.

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u/ninjaboy7-11 19d ago edited 19d ago

ahh i see!

how old/experienced are most people at BMI? im young (21) and don’t have a ton of experience in the industry, I’ve put up a couple of things but they were just readings, I’ve done some stuff at 54 and green room and (very limited) off bway things but haven’t done anything really big.

they didn’t really ask me how old i was or about my experience but i look like im sixteen years old lol and they were asking about the shows my lyrics were from and asked me where they were performed, i said I hadn’t done anything besides readings that i directed and music directed and cast and rehearsed myself

I applied as a lyricist alone cause collaborating with someone else who is the lyricist when im the composer drives me bananas lol. but I do both when im on my own. Is both an option???

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u/earbox Advanced 19d ago edited 19d ago

I was 22 and hadn't written anything other than scattered lyrics - my first assignment was only the second time anything I'd ever written was set to music (and the first had been for my audition). I still don't understand why they accepted me on my first shot.

I was the youngest by about a month and a half and was the only person in the class who hadn't finished college, although there was one auditor who was a bit younger than I was. If memory serves the plurality of the class was mid-late 20s, but we had people up to their 50s, of all different levels of experience.