While a film or TV show’s casting director is tasked with finding the right actors for a given role, those of us who create and represent songs have the job of identifying the ideal artists for our songs. Whether you are a songwriter pitching your own material or a music… Read more...
The Songwriters Hall of Fame unveiled its list of inductees for 2020, and once again, BMI is very proud to count members of this august class of music creators as its own. Initially conceived to honor and celebrate the work of songwriters, composers and lyricists responsible for the world’s most… Read more...
Fil Eisler credits his early years as a rock guitarist with giving him a background in producing records, which he says has been essential in his career as a film composer. But it wasn’t just anybody’s records the multi-talented Eisler cut his teeth on. As a co-writer on Robbie Williams’… Read more...
At the beginning of my career, I had a song go on hold for a female country music star whose singles regularly went to #1. The head of her record label said my song was a “must-cut” situation, and I was faced with a daunting decision: should I buy a… Read more...
To grab our listeners’ attention we need to separate our songs from the competition, and one way to accomplish this is by including an unexpected twist—an element of surprise. This article examines various ways to incorporate twists into lyrics and melodies. Story Songs With Surprise Endings “Ol’ Red” (written by… Read more...
BMI is proud to announce its support for the 12th Annual ‘Songs of Hope’ event on September 15 in Los Angeles, a special star-studded evening of music benefiting City of Hope, an independent biomedical research institution and cancer treatment center. This year’s iteration will feature storied recorded executive, producer and… Read more...
While Dave Stewart’s is a success story most aspiring songwriters dream of replicating, it wasn’t all easy. In his recently published memoir Sweet Dreams Are Made of This: A Life in Music – which is receiving critical acclaim from New York Daily News, Boston Globe and… Read more...
Prolific BMI songwriter, artist and humanitarian Dave Stewart has contributed the tender, thought-provoking song “Man to Man (Woman to Woman)” to the Music That Changes the World compilation, currently being re-launched by Transcendental Music to benefit the David Lynch Foundation. The robust collection features other BMI… Read more...
In the eight years that Joss Stone has been in the international spotlight, you’d have to believe she’s fielded questions on just about every topic under the sun at least twice. And yet she sounds pleasantly surprised to find her songwriting the focus of an interview: “Oh, cool! That’s really… Read more...
More than a year after the U.S. release of Slumdog Millionaire, Indian composer A.R. Rahman is still riding high atop the wave of praise and anticipation generated by his stunning soundtrack for the film. A Golden Globe and two Oscars resoundingly confirmed his place as an auteur’s ideal musical counterpart,… Read more...
