News Archive
“Great means incredibly well crafted, easily memorable, with a universally relatable sentiment and a sense of authenticity—“from the heart” as they say. Iconic means touching a cultural nerve, standing the test of time and instantly recognizable by many people - that holds true even if it’s not widely considered…
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…
Top Tips From 2021 That Can Put You on the Road to Songwriting Success in 2022
The end of a year—and the beginning of a new one—is a perfect time to reassess our goals and recommit to them. I hope that revisiting the excerpts that follow will help you all attain a successful 2022. Excerpt from “Bring Me Something New—What Song Publishers Really Mean”…
What’s Hot—and What’s Not In Songwriting
I was recently asked how the tools and techniques I teach today differ from those I have taught in the past. Have I noticed any recent changes in successful songs and in the processes of writing them? I looked back over the thirty years that I have been teaching songwriting,…
BMI Celebrates the 20th Anniversary of its R&B/Hip-Hop Awards Honoring the Genre’s Best Songwriters, Producers and Music Publishers
BMI is proud to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, recognizing the genre’s top songwriters, producers and publishers of the previous year. BMI’s Song of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Producer of the Year, Publisher of the Year and 2020’s Social Star were announced across BMI’s digital…
Harry Gregson-Williams and Other Top Songwriters Honored At 2018 BMI London Awards
Tonight, BMI proudly honored acclaimed film composer Harry Gregson-Williams with the BMI Icon Award at the 2018 BMI London Awards. Guests including Liam Payne, James Arthur, Natasha Bedingfield, Tinie Tempah and Trevor Rabin attended the awards at London’s Dorchester Hotel for an evening of celebration for UK and European songwriters,…
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…
Storied BMI Songwriter Lamont Dozier Enthralls USC at Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Session
Motown legend Lamont Dozier returned to USC on Friday, February 26, to partake in a Master Session for the Songwriters Hall of Fame. No stranger to the campus, as Dozier previously acted as an Artist in Residence Professor at USC Thornton, playing a role in the creation of the Popular…
Catching Up With Kiyanu Kim
With already a decade and a half under his belt of producing, mixing, performing and songwriting, Kiyanu Kim is a driven music creator. This guitar-slinging New Yorker is building a name for himself as a writer, collaborator and musician, and gradually accruing a reputation for relaxed collaboration and a style…
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…
Lamont Dozier: Lamont Dozier Interview - The 2008 BMI Pop Awards
Captured at BMI Pop Awards 2008