BMI Pop Awards Honor Veterans Carole Bayer Sager and Mike Stoller as Next Gen of Songwriters Demand Fair Pay

variety.com:

Shirley Ju On Tuesday, May 10th, the 70th annual BMI Pop Awards took over the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.Hosted by BMI president and CEO Mike O’Neill and vice president, worldwide creative Barbara Cade, Carole Bayer Sager and Mike Stoller were honored as BMI Icons for their contributions as songwriters — their many credits include such classics as “Don’t Cry Out Loud” and “Hound Dog,” respectively.

Both are members of Songwriters Hall of Fame and have enjoyed profitable careers in their craft for decades, as was noted in their BMI presentations.

In their honor, Ledisi performed Bayer Sager’s “Nobody Does It Better” and Anderson East delivered a moving rendition of Stoller’s “Stand By Me.” Additional honors went to Omer Fedi (pictured at top, with Blake Slatkin to his right) and Michael Pollack for pop songwriter of the year, and to Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group for publisher of the year, each representing 28 of 2021’s most performed songs.But in a room filled with fellow songwriters, composers and music publishers, one question was high on BMI members’ minds: when will the songwriters of today see fair pay for their work and contributions?Songwriter and producer Oak Felder, who worked on Demi Lovato’s “I Love Me,” shared his thoughts on the topic with Variety. “Songwriters aren’t paid enough and that is something that we have to solve — period, point blank,” said Felder on the red carpet. “Songwriters get together and they help make these bodies of work — and if it doesn’t get used or it doesn’t do well, you don’t get paid.