Songwriters of the Year Honored at BMI Awards
November 9th, 2011
CMA awards week in Nashville continued last night with the third of the PRO awards sessions, all leading up to tonight’s CMA Awards celebration.
Broadcast Music, Inc. BMI celebrated the songwriters and publishers behind country music’s most-performed songs of the past year during last night’s 11/8 59th annual BMI Country Awards, staged at the organization’s Nashville offices.
Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson shared the Songwriter of the Year crown. The frequent collaborators co-wrote four of the year’s most-performed songs: “All About Tonight” Blake Shelton, “All Over Me” Josh Turner, “Gimmie That Girl” Joe Nichols and “The Shape I’m In” Joe Nichols. Individually, Akins’ “Farmer’s Daughter” Rodney Atkins and Davidson’s “Rain Is a Good Thing” Luke Bryan also made the list.
Songwriter Ben Hayslip takes top ASCAP 2011 songwriting honors
November 7th, 2011
Songwriter Ben Hayslip was the night’s top winner, collecting his first ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Award on Sunday night during the performing rights organization’s 49th annual country awards.
Hayslip had a hand in writing five of ASCAP’s most-performed songs in the last year: “All About Tonight” (Blake Shelton), “All Over Me” (Josh Turner); “Farmer’s Daughter” (Rodney Atkins), “Gimme That Girl” (Josh Nichols) and “The Shape I’m In” (Joe Nichols).
“It’s unbelievable, it really is,” Hayslip says of landing five hits in one year. “I dreamed of being a lot of things in my life, from an NFL quarterback to a songwriter, but I don’t think I ever dreamed of having five hit songs in a year. Maybe I didn’t think it was possible.”
Legendary Songwriter Denny Randell Nominated for the Songwriters Hall of Fame
October 28th, 2011
LOS ANGELES, CA, Oct 27, 2011 MARKETWIRE via COMTEX — Veteran songwriter and GI Jams R co-founder Denny Randell is a 2012 nominee for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Randell has collaborated with many songwriting partners, including co-nominee Sandy Linzer and with Bob Crewe. Randells catalogue with Linzer includes “A Lovers Concerto,” “Working My Way Back To You,” “Lets Hang On,” “Opus 17 Dont Worry Bout Me,” “Native New Yorker” and “Cant Get Enough Of You Baby.”
In Randells early career he wrote and produced a regional hit catching the attention of a top NY music publisher, who hired him as a staff songwriter and arranger. His work there led to his relationship with The Four Seasons, as an arranger/conductor and then a writer of some of their classic hits, including three in the Tony-winning Broadway show Jersey Boys.
Songwriters, music reps meet with Rep Marsha Blackburn to discuss music rights
October 26th, 2011
Nashville, Tenn. — Songwriters and Music industry representatives are meeting in Washington, D.C., with U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn to discuss protection of intellectual property rights.
The Congressional Songwriters Caucus, which Blackburn chairs and founded in 2003, will have a round table discussion on Wednesday in the Rayburn House Office Building.
via Songwriters, music reps meet with Blackburn to discuss intellectual property rights | The Republic.
ACM Establishes New Songwriter Award
October 20th, 2011
A lot of people realize that songwriters don’t get the recognition they should. We’re always hearing about hit songs being attributed to an artist who recorded the popular version of a song, but rarely do we see songs attributed to the songwriters who created them. Could the ACM awards be about to change that?
According to Music Row.com, The Academy of Country Music is establishing a Songwriter of the Year Award, to be presented in conjunction with next year’s 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards. The trophy will be handed out at the ACM Honors in Nashville in fall 2012. Read the rest of this entry »