I am a BMI Member. How can I get paid royalties for my music?

I’ve been a member of BMI for quite awhile and have done some work in the past with some major producers. They submitted my music to distribution companies who then licensed it to major networks (don’t know if i’m saying it right) and have helped me to gain residual income on my music that was used. How can I go about doing this myself, or do I need some sort of outside representation to do that?