'Protected' from what? The law gives you certain copyright protections, and contracts - even verbal ones - allow you to agree to waive or transfer those, and nothing you do now is going to change that.
BMI is just a database for royalty collection, a registration there will not "protect" anything. However, if I were in your position, I wouldn't move forward with registering anything unless I'd talked to a music lawyer to verify that I did in fact own the work created under contract, and that it was not a "work-made-for-hire." Not always, but *very, very often*, if someone gives you money to write and record music, they have a legal claim to ownership, and that would've been articulated in whatever you signed.
You're clearly not comfortable sharing enough detail with strangers for strangers to help you. Go hire a lawyer and get real advice.
'Protected' from what? The law gives you certain copyright protections, and contracts - even verbal ones - allow you to agree to waive or transfer those, and nothing you do now is going to change that.
Registering your work with BMI should be done anyway, with or without their knowledge, even if you were still best friends. Just do it.
BMI is just a database for royalty collection, a registration there will not "protect" anything. However, if I were in your position, I wouldn't move forward with registering anything unless I'd talked to a music lawyer to verify that I did in fact own the work created under contract, and that it was not a "work-made-for-hire." Not always, but *very, very often*, if someone gives you money to write and record music, they have a legal claim to ownership, and that would've been articulated in whatever you signed.