BMI POP AWARDS: MORE SATISFYING THAN A FINE COHIBA

At the BMI Pop Awards, newly crowned Songwriter of the Year Taylor Swift joins Icon Award winners Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill and BMI chief Mike O’Neill for a festive photo op just before they all collaborated on a musical about President Trump. Swift was also given the first-ever Taylor Swift Award for, you know, being Taylor Swift. Her pubco, Marty Bandier’s Sony/ATV, took Publisher of the Year honors, while “Uptown Funk” was named Song of the Year.

Swift is only the second creator to be honored with a BMI award in her own name; the first was Michael Jackson in 1990. She also took four Most Performed awards for 1989 songs.

“This was an incredible night for Sony/ATV and its who’s who list of songwriters,” proclaimed Bandier. “We’re proud of all our writers, but it would be remiss if I didn’t single out Taylor Swift who has been signed to us since day one of her career and who never ceases to amaze us with her talent.”

Among the evening’s myriad other winners were UMPG’s Jeff Bhasker, Imagem’s Mark Ronson (and the many writers and pubcos involved in “Uptown Funk”) and SONGS’ Trinidad James. Stay tuned for updates.