The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that protects its members' musical copyrights by monitoring public performances of their music, whether via a broadcast or live performance, and compensating them accordingly.
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is one of five United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP, SESAC, Pro Music Rights, and SoundExchange. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed. In FY 2017, BMI collected more than $1.13 billion in licensing fees and distributed $1.023 billion in royalties. BMI's repertoire includes over 800,000 songwriters and 13 million compositions.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work represents and maintains the heritage and legacy of a spectrum of the most beloved songs from the world's popular music songbook. It not only celebrates these established songwriters, but is also involved on the development of new songwriting talent through workshops, showcases and scholarships. There are many programs designed to teach and discover new songwriters. Nile Rodgers serves as the organization's chairman.
"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra.
Steve McCutcheon, known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British record producer, songwriter and musician. A multi-award winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern British music, with contributions to 30 number one singles in the UK Singles Chart.
"Winter Wonderland" is a song written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard B. Smith. Due to its seasonal theme it is often regarded as a Christmas song in the Northern Hemisphere. Since its original recording by Richard Himber, it has been covered by over 200 different artists, including Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Amy Grant, Michael Bublé, The Eurythmics, Selena Gomez and Radiohead.
Franke Jon Previte is an American singer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning composer. He was the lead singer of the 1980s pop rock band Franke and the Knockouts.
"Slow Jamz" is a single by American rapper Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx. It was released in late 2003 as the lead single from his album Kamikaze and the second single from Kanye West's debut album The College Dropout. The Kanye West version includes an intro and two extra verses by Jamie Foxx, and excludes the original outro by Twista. Tracie Spencer provides background vocals on both versions, and plays the female answer in Foxx's last verse on the Kanye West version. "Slow Jamz" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and received a nomination for Best Rap/Sung Performance at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards.
James David Washington, better known under his stage name Jim BEANZ, is an American vocal producer, songwriter, actor, singer and record producer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, now working out of Philadelphia, signed to Timbaland Productions and Sunset Entertainment Group. He got his start working under the tutelage of Jazz from the hit R&B group, Dru Hill, when he was an artist in the R&B group "Tresan". In 2005, Beanz started working alongside Timbaland as a vocal producer and more recently, as a song producer. He co-wrote the winning entry of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, "Believe" by Dima Bilan. Jim Beanz also wrote and produced songs on the first season of the mega hit television series on FOX called Empire, and portrayed the rapper "Titan" on the show.
Josh Kear is a Nashville-based songwriter who has become known as one of the country genre's most consistent hit makers. He has spent nearly fourteen years writing for independent powerhouse Big Yellow Dog Music.
"Good Morning Heartache" is a song written by Irene Higginbotham, Ervin Drake, and Dan Fisher. It was recorded by jazz singer Billie Holiday on January 22, 1946.
Robert Lee "Bob" McDill is an American retired songwriter. Active from the 1960s until 2000, he has written songs for many country music artists, including 31 number one hits, as well as songs for Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Anne Murray, Juice Newton, and other popular artists. In addition to four Grammy nominations, McDill has received Songwriter of the Year awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and the Nashville Songwriters Association International. In October 2012, he was awarded ASCAP's Golden Note Award in recognition of his "extraordinary place in American popular music."
CFO$ is an American songwriting and production duo consisting of John Paul Alicastro and Michael Conrad Lauri. They are primarily known for creating entrance music and program themes for WWE. The two have also garnered credits for The Unlikely Candidates, Wolfgang Gartner, Rozes, Phillip Phillips, Goo Goo Dolls, Young Guns, Will Roush, KIT Walters, Train, and Filter.
