LOS ANGELES, Sep 05, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- U.S. performing right organization BMI saluted the world's premier r&b, rap and hip-hop music songwriters, producers and publishers Thursday night at its Urban Awards. BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Atlanta Catherine Brewton hosted the annual ceremony at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills.
The industry's hottest songwriter/artist T-Pain earned the coveted Songwriter of the Year crown and shared the Producer of the Year trophy with crossover king Jonathan "J.R." Rotem and hip-hop visionary Kanye West. Song of the Year honors went to BeyoncA(C)'s "Irreplaceable," co-written by Ne-Yo, Amund BjAerklund (TONO) and Espen Lind (TONO), while Universal Music Publishing Group secured the Publisher of the Year title.
The night's festivities culminated with the presentation of the prestigious BMI Icon Award to legends The Jacksons, whose achievements were celebrated with a musical tribute. Throughout the ceremony, the audience also enjoyed live performances of many of the award-winning songs by music's biggest stars including Rick Ross, T-Pain, Lil' Wayne, Ray J, LLOYD, Mario, JoJo, Keri Hilson and Yung Berg.
T-Pain, Jonathan "J.R." Rotem and Kanye West shared the Producer of the Year win thanks to individually logging the most producer credits on charting songs over the past year. The BMI Top Urban Producers list also included DJ Montay, Mr. ColliPark, Polow Da Don, Rodney Jerkins, Soulja Boy Tell'em and will.i.am.
Universal Music Publishing Group earned the BMI Urban Publisher of the Year trophy by scoring the highest percentage of copyright ownership in award songs. The publishing giant's 20 hits on the most-performed list include "Throw Some D's" recorded by Rich Boy featuring Polow Da Don; Song of the Year "Irreplaceable"; Flo Rida's "Low" featuring T-Pain; "You" recorded by LLOYD featuring Lil' Wayne and Ciara's "Promise."
In addition to the BMI performance awards, trade publication Billboard recognized the BMI-affiliated writers whose songs reached No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Tracks, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Hot 100 charts during the past year.
Broadcast Music, Inc.(R) (BMI) is an American performing right organization that represents more than 375,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 6.5 million works. BMI's latest financial results, $901 million for its 2008 fiscal year, are the highest performing right collections for any copyright organization in the world. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for over 65 years. The U.S. corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.
For a complete list of winners and photos, please visit bmi.com.
SOURCE: Broadcast Music, Inc.
