The panel will feature four key studio music executives and recording duo Lexicon. The panelists will be discussing how to get your music used in film and television programs, working with independent filmmakers, score vs. source music, and how to best source your music to music supervisors.

The panel will be moderated by Ray Yee, Senior Director, Film/TV Relations, BMI. Panelists will include JoJo Villanueva, Music Supervisor, Format Entertainment (Epic Movie, The Hitcher, Charlie Bartlett); Wilson Yau, Music Supervisor, MTV (Real World, Making the Band); Season Kent, Music Supervisor, Season Kent Film Music (Harold and Kumar 2, Bonneville, The Lakehouse); Rachel Levy, Vice President, Motion Picture Music, The Weinstein Company; and Lexicon – Gideon Black and Nick Black (placements in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, America’s Next Top Mode, Numb3rs, Punk’d).

The BMI Industry Insider series is a program that was created in 2006 with Gibson Guitar and Billboard magazine to provide songwriters with an educational forum to assist them with their career development. Moderated by a rotating group of professionals from BMI, Gibson and Billboard, the series takes an in-depth look at several core areas of the music business that are integral to career growth and success. Topics have included management, legal representation, songwriting; music publishing and a&r. Offering a direct link to the inner workings of the music business from the perspective of established music professionals, the program provides songwriters with a wealth of information at no charge.

The “early-bird” $100 registration fee has been extended until the end of May. For more information, including a list of the songwriters and top industry representatives expected to attend and to register for the Festival, visit kauaimusicfestival.com. Unlike many other expos and conferences, registration to the Kauai Music Festival is limited to allow our small group of registrants more personal attention.  As a result, it will fill up quickly... so early registration is strongly suggested to guarantee participation.

The staff of songwriters and executives participating are among the best in the business, including multi-platinum writers who have penned hits for Christina Aguilera, Rascal Flatts, Hinder, Avril Lavigne, Daughtry, Faith Hill, Brandy, Meredith Brooks, N'Sync, Joss Stone, and Jojo, plus executives from Interscope, A&M, Atlantic Records, peermusic, BMI and more. BMI is proud to support the festival, which will feature Jason Blume, Charles Brotman, Barbara Cane, John Cruz, Beau Dozier, Adam Gorgoni, Brian Howes, Tony Kilbert, Michael Laskow, Myles Lewis, Steven Melrose, William G. Meyer III, Mollie Moore, David Pack, Shelly Peiken, Jeff Peterson, Jeffrey Steele, David Tickle, Harry Witz and more.

BMI saluted the writers and publishers of the past year’s most performed songs on Christian radio and television during the BMI Christian Music Awards on April 21 at the company’s Music Row offices in Nashville. BMI named Casting Crowns’ “Voice of Truth” Song of the Year, while the group’s frontman Mark Hall earned the prestigious Songwriter of the Year title. BMI Vice President Jody Williams, along with Senior Director Thomas Cain and Associate Director Beth Mason, of BMI’s Writer/Publisher Relations department in Nashville, presented awards for 25 songs in five categories: Christian Rock, Contemporary Christian, Inspirational, Urban Gospel and Southern Gospel.

2007 Christian Music Awards: Song List

Gospel star Kirk Franklin, Christian rock outfit Sanctus Real and Casting Crowns’ Mark Hall delighted the packed room by delivered scorching performances of their award-winning songs.

Longtime Christian music pacesetters Steven Curtis Chapman and Mark Hall took home BMI Song of the Year crystals for “Voice of Truth.” Recorded the by Hall’s award-winning band Casting Crowns, “Voice of Truth” was published by Club Zoo Music, Inc., My Refuge Music, Peach Hill Songs, Sparrow Song and SWECS Music.

It was a good night for the lead singer of Casting Crowns, who also earned his second BMI Christian Songwriter of the Year honor. Mark Hall’s hits ““Lifesong,” “Praise You in This Storm” and “Voice of Truth,” all recorded by Casting Crowns, garnered three BMI Christian Awards in both the Contemporary and Inspirational categories.

The ceremony also feted Songs of Greater Vision as Publisher of the Year. The award is determined by the highest percentage of copyright ownership in award songs. The company’s two honored songs, “Do You Want To Be Forgiven” and “Don’t Let The Sandals Fool Ya,” secured individual BMI Christian Awards for writer Rodney Griffin.

Some of the night’s other big winners included 2007 Trailblazers of Gospel honoree Yolanda Adams; producer/songwriter Ed Cash; urban gospel star Kirk Franklin; producer, arranger and musician Jay Joyce; songwriter/producer Kenny Greenberg; Israel Houghton and Percy James Bady; songwriter Fred Douglas Washington, Jr.; the Crabb Family’s Gerald Crabb; songwriter/artist Aaron Shust; producer/songwriter/author Matt Bronleewe; and brothers Henry, JoJo and Ringo Garza. Songwriters Marcia Henry, George Jordan, Sandy Knight, Doug McKelvey and Kevin Keith Walker, along with Day of Fire’s Greg Hionis, songwriter/producers Ian Eskelin and Liz Hooper, Sanctus Real producer Chris Stevens and Sanctus Real member Dan Gartley, each took home their first BMI Christian Music Award.

Publishers winning multiple awards were BMG Music Group (Bridge Building Music/Careers-BMG Music Publishing/Zomba Songs), Club Zoo Music, Inc., My Refuge Music, SWECS Music, EMI Music Publishing (EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc./Sparrow Song) and Gotee Music, Inc.

Joanna Noelle Levesque began singing when she was two. By the time she was five, she knew singing was her future and began absorbing tips from her parents. “My mom sang professionally and dad sang for fun, so I’d hear mom around the house singing and I just picked it up,” she says on her website. In 1998, she charmed Bill Cosby with her adorable appearance on “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” She imitated Cher and ran through a number of classic pop tunes when Cosby instructed her to be a human radio. Her poise and ability to captivate an audience are apparent even at 7-years-old (check her out on YouTube).

She was 12 when she signed with Universal-distributed Da Family/Blackground. Her self-titled 2004 debut featured the smash “Leave (Get Out),” a song about tossing out the bad boy, sung in a voice nuanced far beyond her years. The album reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. “Leave (Get Out)” soared to No. 12 on the Hot 100, but, more impressively, the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard’s Top 40 Mainstream chart. At 13, JoJo became the youngest solo artist to top a Billboard chart.

This past October, JoJo released her sophomore album, The High Road, which paired her with such top-notch producers as Scott Storch, Swiss Beatz and “J.R.” Rotem. Having undergone a steep learning curve with the first album, JoJo asserted her new-found independence on the new project. “I do all the vocal arrangement, all the harmonies, and all background and lead vocals,” she says on her website. “I decide which songs I want to record, and which ones I don’t. I write melodies and lyrics and change lyrics that other writers have written, if I don’t feel they are appropriate, or I can’t relate to them.”

Her instincts paid off. The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and first single, “Too Little, Too Late,” reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. The video for second single, “How to Touch a Girl,” debuted on MTV’s “TRL” in December.

Like many artists, JoJo wants to score a No. 1 album. At the rate she’s going, the only question is if it will be before or after she is old enough to vote.