Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding and Passenger (Mike Rosenberg) are once again flying the flag for young British singer-songwriters as they go head to head in a battle for Song Of The Year at the upcoming 2014 BMI London Awards. Daft Punk and Avicii are also contenders for the highly coveted award, which will be presented in London on October 13th.
Every European artist and songwriter dreams of breaking the US market; the BMI London Awards recognises and rewards the success of these talented people. European songwriters that have written the most popular songs played on US TV and radio have been shortlisted; each will walk away with a BMI London Pop Award on the night, with a special accolade for the Song Of The Year.
2013 was awash with big hits, all vying for this year’s Robert S. Musel Award for Song Of The Year, including Ed’s Taylor Swift collaboration ‘Everything Has Changed’ and Ellie’s ‘I Need Your Love’ pitted against Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ and the Miley Cyrus smash ‘Wrecking Ball’. Could it be another award in the cabinet for the unstoppable Emeli Sandé for ‘Next To Me’?
This year also sees Dutch songwriter Rob Crosby shortlisted for a track written for Eric Paslay, and A-Ha and Frederick Hibbert of Toots and the Maytals have made the cut for Pitbull tracks ‘Feel This Moment’ and ‘Don’t Stop The Party’, respectively, that sample their work.
The Song Of The Year winner will follow in the footsteps of Adele, who won in 2012 with ‘Rolling In The Deep’ and last year’s victors, Swede Jörgen Elofsson and Ali Tamposi, who penned Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)’.
Last year’s ceremony also saw industry legends A-Ha presented with a BMI Million-Air Award to honour the four million combined radio performances of their hit song, ‘Take On Me’.
The shortlist announcement for BMI Song Of The Year comes following the news that Sir Tim Rice will be present on the evening to be honoured as a BMI ICON. He join a list of past honorees including John Lydon, Queen, Ray Davies, Van Morrison and Bryan Ferry.
The BMI London Awards will be hosted by BMI President and CEO Michael O’Neill; BMI Senior Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Phil Graham; and BMI Executive Director, Writer/Publisher Relations, Europe and Asia, Brandon Bakshi.
Last month, BMI reported the highest revenues and royalty distributions in the Company’s 75-year history for its fiscal year ending June 30th. BMI generated record revenues of $977 million, and distributed and administered more than $840 million to its songwriters, composers and music publishers.
BMI LONDON SONG OF THE YEAR – THE SHORTLIST:
DON’T STOP THE PARTY
Frederick Hibbert*
Blue Mountain Music
Pitbull feat. TJR
EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED
Ed Sheeran
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Taylor Swift feat. Ed Sheeran
FEEL THIS MOMENT
Magne Furuholmen
Pal Waaktaar
Morten Harket
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera
FRIDAY NIGHT
Rob Crosby*
Universal Music Publishing
Eric Paslay
GET LUCKY
Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk*
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk*
Imagem Music
Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams
I NEED YOUR LOVE
Ellie Goulding
Global Talent Publishing
Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding
LET HER GO
Mike Rosenberg
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Passenger
NEXT TO ME
Emeli Sandé (PRS)
Sony ATV Music Publishing
Stellar Songs
Emeli Sandé
WAKE ME UP
Tim Bergling
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Avicii
WRECKING BALL
Sacha Skarbek (PRS)
BMG Rights Management GMBH
Miley Cyrus
