will.i.am accepts the BMI President’s Award at the 2010 BMI Urban Awards

will.i.am accepts the BMI President’s Award at the 2010 BMI Urban Awards.

BMI saluted the songwriters, producers and music publishers of the most-performed R&B, rap and hip-hop songs September 10 at its annual Urban Awards. BMI presented the BMI President’s Award to will.i.am in recognition of The Black Eyed Peas co-founder’s work as an artist, producer, and humanitarian. Lil Wayne took home his second consecutive Urban Songwriter of the Year; “Boom Boom Pow” earned Urban Song of the Year; EMI Music Publishing claimed the Urban Publisher of the Year crown; and BMI Urban Producer of the Year went to Polow Da Don. BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and Catherine Brewton, Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Atlanta, hosted the ceremony along with Ray J at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

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About BMI
Celebrating 75 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®) is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in more than 10.5 million musical works created and owned by more than 700,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI’s repertoire, from chart toppers to perennial favorites, span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year.