News Archive
BMI honored Billy F Gibbons, founding member of ZZ Top, with its coveted Troubadour Award during a private reception at BMI’s Nashville location on Monday, September 18. BMI’s President and CEO Mike O’Neill alongside Nashville’s VP of Creative Clay Bradley presented the prestigious accolade to Gibbons for his profound impact…
BMI Celebrates Multi-Platinum Entertainer Thomas Rhett with 7x #1 Party
BMI launched into this week’s 50th annual CMA Fest by celebrating BMI singer/songwriter and multi-platinum entertainer Thomas Rhett’s 7 out of 20 most recent career chart-topping No. 1s, all 7 of which Rhett co-wrote. Hosted by BMI and ASCAP, the lunchtime party held yesterday on the rooftop of BMI’s Nashville…
The Most Important Part of Persistence
My father: “How long are you going to give this songwriting? You can’t go on struggling forever.” Me: “You’re right, Dad. I can’t do this forever. If I’m not successful in the next hundred years, I’m going to give up and go back to school!” We’ve all heard…
BMI Presents “New Faces of Nashville” 2023 Kickoff Show at the Bluebird Cafe
BMI kicked off its 2023 Bluebird Cafe showcase series Tuesday night, with a “New Faces of Nashville” themed set of performances. The legendary stage hosted Nashville newcomers Tony Evans Jr., Harper Grae, and Lindsey Hinkle. Lindsey Hinkle started out the evening performing in her Bluebird Cafe debut. The self-taught musician…
Top Songwriting Tips For 2023
As we begin a new year, it’s a good time to revisit some of the advice shared in the year that has passed. I hope these tips will help you achieve your songwriting goals! Excerpt from “How to Stretch Yourself Melodically” A common pitfall for non-performing songwriters is…
How to Write to a Music Track: The Art of Toplining
For genres like pop, hip-hop, R&B, and EDM/dance music, in most instances, the backing track is created before the words and vocal melody. The track consists of essentially all the music that will accompany the vocal and typically includes drums and percussion, keyboards, and bass. Live guitars or computer generated…
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…
GRAMMY-Nominated BMI Songwriter Entertains California Innkeepers
The California Association of Boutique & Breakfast Inns held their annual INNspire Conference & Marketplace in person this year at the Bahia Resort Hotel in San Diego and BMI helped make it an event to remember. Award-winning BMI songwriter James Slater was the featured entertainment at their closing beach party…
“Bring Me Something New”—What Song Publishers Really Mean
I recently forwarded three songs to a list of publishers who have agreed to listen to songs that I screen. One of the publishers responded, “This song is very well written and commercial. But I’ve already got this kind of stuff by the dozens. Seems that most writers are all…
Nashville Hitmaker Helps BMI Show Support for Oregon Hospitality Industry
BMI partnered with the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association to provide the musical entertainment at the hospitality association’s “Industry Night Out,” held recently at the Punch Bowl Social in Portland. The reception, which was held in conjunction with the Northwest Food Show, provided an opportunity for Oregon restauranteurs who were…
Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban: Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban Interviewed at the 2014 BMI Country Awards
Captured at 2014 BMI Country Awards