David Levin is BMI’s Senior Vice President, Licensing. He is responsible for all of BMI’s domestic licensing and revenue generation, encompassing radio, television, digital media, cable, satellite and general licensing. Levin, who oversees teams in New York and Nashville, reports directly to Mike Steinberg, BMI’s EVP, Chief Revenue & Creative Officer, and is based in New York. Under Levin’s direction as Vice President, Digital Licensing, BMI’s digital revenues grew from $50 million in 2012 to more than $250 million in 2018. He helped secure the company’s first licensing deals with Netflix, Amazon’s Music and Video Services, Apple Music, Hulu and Facebook, and also established new licensing structures with Spotify, YouTube and Pandora. Prior to BMI, Levin spent 12 years at Sony Music Entertainment where he held various positions throughout his tenure including Senior Vice President, Digital Sales, and Vice President, New Media. While at Sony, Levin established the digital and mobile business channels which started as a small, nontraditional segment, but soon became much of the company’s core business. Before joining Sony, he ran the marketing department for Getmusic.com, a joint venture between BMG and Universal. In addition to being a sought-after speaker at conferences such as SXSW, Music Biz, RAIN and MONDO, Levin made Billboard’s Digital Power Players list in 2015 and 2017, 2018 and 2019. He holds an MBA from Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Management and a BA in Sociology, also from Rutgers University.
BMI was founded in 1939 by forward-thinkers who wanted to represent songwriters in emerging genres, like jazz, blues and country, and protect the public performances of their music. BMI is currently the largest music performing rights organization in the U.S. and continues to nurture new talent and new music. BMI is the bridge between songwriters and the businesses and organizations that want to play their music publicly. As a global leader in music rights management, BMI serves as an advocate for the value of music, representing over 22.4 million musical works created and owned by more than 1.4 million songwriters, composers and music publishers.
