News Archive
Predicting the future of the music business in the rapidly evolving digital age is tricky. In the past decade, innovations like the iTunes Store and streaming Internet radio have radically changed the playing field. As 2014 continues to unfold, there are several trends that indicate opportunities for songwriters and musicians.…
Amanda Green offers 40% discount tickets for BMI members to see “Hands on a Hardbody”
Inspired by true events, this new musical features a book by DOUG WRIGHT (Pulitzer Prize winner, I Am My Own Wife), lyrics by AMANDA GREEN (Bring it On: The Musical) and music by TREY ANASTASIO (Phish) and AMANDA GREEN. Directed by NEIL PEPE (Speed-the-Plow) with musical staging by SERGIO…
Daniel Israel: Musical Theatre in Motion
The direction of Daniel Israel’s career is decidedly more clear than that of the characters in his new musical, who bounce from parking lot to parking lot following the eccentric orbit of the brightest star in their universe, the jam band Liquid Brick. The musical, which goes by the working…
Lineup Announced for BMI Stage at ACL Fest
The Austin City Limits Music Festival is October 8-10 in Austin’s Zilker Park, and once again, BMI will join the fest in offering raw proof that roots music is more than alive and well—it’s rocking, kicking, and swinging. Tucked in its signature shady corner near the entrance of the festival,…
Indie Spotlight: Dynamite Walls
The sound of San Diego band Dynamite Walls has been compared to contemporaries from Coldplay to The Strokes. Producer Paul Fox (XTC, Sugarcubes with Bjork, Phish, 10,000 Maniacs, Grant Lee Buffalo and others) recognized the band’s potential and took them into the studio to record new tracks. Lyrics and melodies…
Dynamite Walls: Calmly Blowing Up
“You ain’t that special,” deadpans vocalist Tom Pritchard in the bittersweet original track of the same name by his band, Dynamite Walls. It’s an accusatory sentiment that encapsulates the swagger and candor of a band that clearly is special. Hailing from San Diego, CA,…
Musicians Take BMI Stage at 3rd Annual ACL Music Fest
BMI will host a singer/songwriter stage at the 3rd Annual Austin City Limits Music Festival, to be held September 17-19 in Austin's Zilker Park (2100 Barton Springs Road). Writers featured on this year's expanded stage will include J.T. Van Zandt, Samantha Stollenwerck,…
Alison Krauss Puts a New Face on Bluegrass
It was a career high-point in 1990 when 18-year-old Alison Krauss won her first Grammy Award for her third Rounder Records album, I’ve Got That Old Feeling. Fast forward 14 years, and Ms. Krauss is standing on the red carpet at the 2004 Academy Awards looking every bit…
Phish Resurfaces With ‘Round Room’
When Phish released its first major label recording in the early ’90s, critics hailed the Vermont foursome as forerunners in an improvisational "new hippie" movement. But when the band quietly dispersed in 2000 for a hiatus of indeterminate length, Phish left a musical void no other band could fill.…
Béla Fleck Broadens the Banjo’s Appeal
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to state that genre-bending banjoist Béla Fleck has revolutionized his instrument's place in contemporary music. With his eclectic combo the Flecktones, Fleck - who recently won Grammy Awards in the categories of Best Contemporary Jazz Album (for his album Outbound) and Best…