Broadcast Music, Inc. mourns the passing of renowned jazz musician, Joe Sample, who died in his hometown of Houston, Texas, on September 12, 2014, at the age of 75. Sample was a composer and keyboard player who collaborated with numerous artists, bridging genres and traditions as his compositions incorporated jazz,… Read more...
In the 1970s, an aspiring Hollywood songwriter named David Foster finagled an audience with the pope of Motown soul music, Berry Gordy. Cutting to the chase, Gordy asked what kind of songs Foster might create for his artists. In a nervy panic, Foster made a beeline for the piano and… Read more...
BMI has awarded the 2007 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composer’s Competition grand prize of $10,000 to Petros Sakelliou of Athens, Greece. The award was presented during the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, held October 28 at the Kodak Theatre. Sakelliou’s winning work, entitled “Swing Along,” was performed… Read more...
Comeback queens the Dixie Chicks led the charge of BMI songwriters and artists who made the winners list for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, presented Feb. 11 in Los Angeles. With five wins out of five nominations, the country trio shook off the anti-Bush backlash and took… Read more...
Karaoke was born 20 years ago, according to legend, when a few stressed-out Japanese businessmen were looking for fun in a Kobe City snack bar. When a strolling guitarist didn't report for work due to illness, the owner of the bar produced some tapes of instrumental recordings. Many Japanese love… Read more...
It’s been a “disastrous” season for composer Harald Kloser: No sooner did he recover from the multiple hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves and floods that heralded the beginning of a new Ice Age, than he was thrown into a titanic battle between two blood-thirsty groups of warring behemoths.… Read more...
Jazz composer and pianist Misha Piatigorsky has been named the winner of the 11th Annual BMI/Thelonious Monk Jazz Composers Competition for his work, "Low Talk." The $10,000 prize was presented by BMI Senior Vice President Phil Graham during the Thelonious Monk Institute's… Read more...
He produces. He writes. Until recently, he was a label A&R guy. He's an artist. But of all his interesting jobs, musical renaissance man Keith Stegall says writing songs is still his favorite thing."That's the reason I came to town, and probably is still the most exciting and precious thing… Read more...
Twenty years is a lifetime in the music industry. Many acts whither and die by their third album; even the Beatles lasted less than a decade. It’s all the more impressive, then, that Kenny G enters his third decade as a solo artist as a bona fide household name.… Read more...
Zelma Redding, widow of Otis Redding, was presented with a Million-Air certificate commemorating seven million broadcast performances of the classic "(Sittin On) The Dock Of The Bay" by BMI during Georgia Music Week. Read more...
