News Archive
It was an incredible evening for BMI affiliates who made a strong showing at the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which were held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The dynamic night of song and celebration was the culmination of GRAMMY weekend, where several awards were presented prior to the…
BMI Remembers Motown Songwriting Legend Lamont Dozier
BMI was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of legendary Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier, whose death at the age of 81 was announced on Tuesday morning. A Detroit native and one third of the trailblazing production trio Holland-Dozier-Holland, Lamont Dozier helped define the sound of the 1960s with a…
Duets and Featured Artists: The Hot Trend in Recordings
It would be hard to look at a list of current hit songs without noticing a trend: the growing use of featured artists. A featured artist is one who makes a guest appearance on another artist’s recording to create a collaboration. What’s the difference between a duet and a song…
BMI Mourns the Loss of Iconic Composer Perry Botkin, Jr.
BMI is saddened by the news that Perry Botkin, Jr., theme composer for the longest running daytime TV series in history, The Young and the Restless, has passed away at the age of 87. During his four-decade career, the GRAMMY-winning Botkin was also responsible for memorable themes to Mork and…
How to Write Song Hooks That “Hook” You in
What constitutes a hook? Any element of a song that grabs a listener’s attention and “hooks” them in. With there being so much competition for our listeners’ attention, including multiple hooks throughout our songs has become more important than ever. According to an article in The Atlantic magazine, “A short-attention-span…
The Good, the Bad and the Hits That Come From Collaboration
At the time this article was written every song in the top-10 on Billboard’s Pop, Country, Christian, and R & B/Hip-Hip charts was the result of collaboration. Out of forty top-10 hits, zero were created by a solo writer. I’m not insinuating that successful songs are never written by one…
Iconic BMI Songwriters Gamble & Huff Elected Co-Chairmen of Songwriters Hall of Fame
Legendary BMI songwriting and producing duo Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, who are responsible for such hits as The Supremes’ “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me,” Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” The O Jays’ “Love Train” and the theme song for Soul…
Legendary Holland Brothers Celebrate Million-Air Awards At BMI’s NY Office
Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famers responsible for so many indelible moments in music history, Eddie and Brian Holland visited Broadcast Music, Inc.’s New York office to celebrate an incredible 10 million performances of their 1960s mega-hit “You Can’t Hurry Love,” as well as multiple million performance awards for “Stop…
Glenn Frey Discusses Songwriting at SongHall Master Session
Glenn Frey shared his extensive songwriting experience with a lucky crowd during a Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Session recently hosted by New York University. NYU Songwriter-in-Residence Phil Galdston guided the discussion, which covered Frey’s early collaborations with fellow giants Jackson Browne, JD Souther and Don Henley; his extraordinary road…
Lauren Alaina, From ‘American Idol’ to ‘Wildflower’
Lauren Alaina isn’t the first precocious teenager to set her sights on Nashville. As the 16-year-old prepares for an October 11 launch of her debut, Wildflower, she walks a path traveled by stars like Taylor Swift, Leann Rimes, Tanya Tucker, and Brenda Lee. But Alaina is the rare teen prodigy…