Pitbull será galardonado con el Premio BMI Presidencial en la 19va. Entrega de Premios BMI a la Música Latina, a celebrarse el próximo 30 de marzo de 2012 en el hotel Encore Wynn de Las Vegas.

El Premio BMI Presidencial es presentado en aquéllas raras ocasiones en que un compositor o ejecutivo ha influenciado distintiva y profundamente a la industria del entretenimiento. Al otorgársele el Premio BMI Presidencial, Pitbull se une a una lista élite de galardonados que incluye a Juanes, Kike Santander, Taylor Swift, Emilio y Gloria Estefan, y Willie Nelson.

Pitbull esta definando un nuevo nombre de súper estrella global. Sus ventas digitales figuran en los millones, promovido por los éxitos internacionales “Hey Baby,” “Krazy,” “Hotel Room Service” “I Like It” (con Enrique Iglesias), “Rain Over Me” (con Marc Anthony) y “Bon Bon,” actualmente el tema que esta escalando en la lista de canciones es “International Love” y el éxito doble-platino “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).” La colección que tiene Pitbull de premios BMI de compositor reflejan los diferentes géneros que abarca su sonido, cual se extiende a las categorías de música urbana, latina, pop y Europea. Su lista creciente de colaboradores – desde Iglesias y Marc Anthony, a Shakira, Chris Brown, T-Pain, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson y Usher – indica su versatilidad. Pitbull lanzo su cuarto disco, Planet Pit, en el verano del 2011, y su biografía oficial nos muestra un retrato de un hombre con una misión: “No estoy sugiriendo que domino el mundo, pero siento que he creado mi propio planeta.”

Los Premios Latinos BMI también honrarán a la Canción, Compositor y Editora del Año. Esta ceremonia privada es presentada por el Presidente y CEO de BMI Del Bryant y por la Vice Presidenta de Música Latina de BMI Delia Orjuela, reconocerá a los compositores y editoras de las canciones latinas más sonadas en la radio y televisión americana del pasado año.

The BMI President’s Award is presented on unique occasions when an individual songwriter or executive has distinctly and profoundly influenced the entertainment industry. In receiving the BMI President’s Award, Pitbull joins an elite list of past honorees that includes Juanes, Kike Santander, Taylor Swift, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, and Willie Nelson.

Pitbull is defining a new brand of global superstardom. His digital sales figures number in the millions, fueled by international hits such as “Hey Baby,” “Krazy,” “Hotel Room Service” “I Like It” (with Enrique Iglesias), “Rain Over Me” (featuring Marc Anthony) and “Bon Bon,” current chart-climber “International Love” and the double-platinum smash “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).” Pitbull’s collection of BMI songwriting awards reflects his genre-jumping sound, spanning urban, Latin, pop and European categories. His growing list of collaborators – from Iglesias and Marc Anthony, to Shakira, Chris Brown, T-Pain, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson and Usher – points to his versatility. Pitbull released his fourth full-length album, Planet Pit, in the summer of 2011, and his official bio paints a vivid picture of a man on a mission: “I’m not suggesting I run the world, I just feel like I’ve built my own planet.”

Hosted by BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and Delia Orjuela, BMI Vice President, Latin Music, the BMI Latin Awards will also celebrate the Latin Song, Songwriter and Publisher of the Year.

en Español

BY INVITATION ONLY (LIMITED SPACE). Please RSVP by January 24th to ppina@bmi.com.

Video Links: www.vevo.com/artist/beatriz-luengo

Seven 2011 Video Clips You Don’t Want to Miss: Throughout the year, BMI captures exclusive moments on video. From sharing a career high with Lady Gaga to advice from pop master David Foster to a mad dash through SXSW with Welsh phenom Bright Light Bright Light, we’ve picked our 7 small-screen favorites from 2011.

Crowded Holiday Film Season Keeps Composers Busy: “On the surface, ‘Dragon Tattoo’ feels like it explores dark territory,” says the film’s composer Atticus Ross. “But once it got going you realized what a complicated piece it is…you’ve got urban, you’ve got the countryside, you’ve got today and you’ve got the historic. It really has been an incredible amount of work.”

Spotlight on First-Time BMI Songwriting Award Winners: We catch up with Shy Carter, the Band Perry’s Kimberly Perry, Alex Cuba and Alex da Kid to find out what winning your first BMI songwriting award feels like. Says Alex da Kid: “When you work for a long time to achieve something, and then get recognized for attaining that goal, you appreciate it all the more.”

Foster the People: “It is as though Mark Foster’s name is lent to Foster the People’s moniker not only to stake a claim, but also to state their purpose – to “encourage” or “nurture” the public to rebel against convention through any means necessary. Everyone, grab your torches.”

With profiles of fast-rising pop and dance artist Chris Willis and Regional Mexican music songwriting super duo Los Juanes, as well as a look at the BMI Holiday Countdown, featuring James Brown, Mariah Carey and more.

We want to hear from you. Subscribe for the latest story updates and send all thoughts and feedback to musicworld_at_bmi.com.

Individuals eyeing membership in both the Latin Recording Academy and the Recording Academy, take note: It’s only $150.00 for a joint membership package.

For more information, visit LatinGrammy.com.

David Foster’s 10 Tips for Songwriters

When David Foster was named a BMI Icon at our Pop Awards this May, he shared 10 sage tips for success. Our favorites? It’s a tie –no. 9: “Make every creative decision based on the notion that you have millions of dollars in the bank – even if you have nothing in the bank”; and no. 2: “Don’t get married unless you really, really, really want to.”

Drake at BMI Urban Awards

When Drake was crowned BMI Urban Songwriter of the Year at the 2011 ceremony, his buzz-generating acceptance speech featured key shout-outs to Mom and the dictionary.

Bright Light Bright Light Does SXSW

BMI asked Welsh singer/songwriter/producer/DJ Bright Light Bright Light to record his SXSW 2011 experience. The result is a six-minute joyride that’s as freewheeling and goodie-packed as the festival itself.

Bobby Braddock: Why BMI?

Honored as the BMI Icon at this year’s BMI Country Awards, legendary songwriter Bobby Braddock – of “He Stopped Loving Her Today” and “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” fame – explains the reason for his multi-decade relationship with BMI in characteristically poetic terms: We’re the “performance organization of the people.”

Chino y Nacho’s Happiness is Contagious

Venezuelan natives Chino y Nacho have helped the entire world fall in love with reggaeton. The master performers’ excitement over being honored as master songwriters at the BMI Latin Awards in March couldn’t be more clear – even if your Spanish is a little rusty.

Mark Mothersbaugh: Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Mark Mothersbaugh is a one-man lesson in creative reinvention. As soon as he explains with polite sincerity, “I don’t know if you know, but I have a band...” at the BMI Film/TV Awards, you know this four-minute interview – which spans Devo, film/television/gaming composing and his kids’ attitudes when he’s on the road – is refreshingly different.

Lady Gaga the Songwriter

Of all the awards she’s loved before, Lady Gaga counts her recent BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year title among the most special. But don’t take our word for it. Watch her heartfelt acceptance speech, in which she proclaims: “This is the most important award I could be winning.”

Want to watch more? Check out BMI’s “How I Wrote That Song” panel, an exercise in global co-writing at the BMI Kingston Songwriter Camp, Nathan Barr and director Matthew Chapman’s chat at Sundance and more on BMI’s YouTube channel.

With its tightly intertwined rhythms, percussive horns and traditional jump-blues bridge, “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” catches the incomparable James Brown during a period of transition—moving from the hard-hitting soul of 1965’s “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” and “I Got You (I Feel Good)” to the stripped down and politically aware funk vamps “Give It Up or Turn It Loose” in 1968 and "I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself)" from 1969. More…

Buck Owens, “Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy”
Written by Buck Owens and Don Rich

Buck Owens was a young truck driver the first time he passed through Bakersfield—a flat, hardscrabble stretch of central California whose musical identity he’d soon shape. Inspired by the heartfelt honky-tonk of Wynn Stewart and the double Texas fiddles of Bob Wills, Owens developed a type of country music that was as far from Nashville musically as it was geographically. More…

Darlene Love, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector

In the early 1960s, Brooklyn natives Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich were barely in their early twenties when they started writing songs for American teenagers. The two started hanging around the Brill Building independently of one another, learning from and writing songs with rock-and-roll founding fathers Mike Leiber and Jerry Stoller and others. More…

Mariah Carey, “All I Want for Christmas is You”

In the early 1990s, Mariah Carey was already well on her way to becoming the best-selling artist of the decade. With her powerful 5-octave vocal range and the finesse with which she scaled it, she was revered primarily as a singer and performer – not as a songwriter. But beginning with her career-launching debut album in 1990, Carey has co-written many of the songs that made her a superstar, including “Always Be My Baby,” “Hero,” “Vision of Love,” “One Sweet Day,” “I Don’t Want to Cry,” and “Dreamlover.” More…

Clarence Carter, “Back Door Santa”
Written by Clarence Carter and Marcus Daniel

A slice of greasy blues soul that draws from the Willie Dixon classic “Back Door Man,” Clarence Carter’s “Back Door Santa,” co-written with Marcus Daniel for the 1968 compilation Soul Christmas, adds a touch of raunch to the holiday celebrations. “I ain’t like old Saint Nick,” Carter barks over a bleating horn section and chopping funk guitar, “he don’t come but once a year. I come runnin’ with my presents every time you call me dear.” More…

Run-D.M.C., “Christmas in Hollis”
Written by Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels and DJ Jason “Jam-Master Jay” Mizell

By 1987, the year Run-D.M.C. released the single “Christmas in Hollis” on two different holiday compilations, they were undeniably superstars—with gold records, multi-million dollar endorsements, and even a Live Aid appearance to their credit. But rap—the music they performed, championed and for many, represented—and hip-hop—the frenetic, kinetic culture comprising rap, break dancing and graffiti that had exploded out of New York City over the past decade and was rapidly spreading—still seemed to peer in from the edges onto a popular culture that regarded it with suspicion, condescension or outright dismissal. To mainstream America, Run-D.M.C. were the iconic musical representatives of an unfathomable youth culture that many perceived as dangerous and disconcerting. You know, like Elvis. More...

Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Christmas Time is Here”
Composed by Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelson

Vince Guaraldi

In its original, exquisite, instrumental form, the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “Christmas Time is Here” communicates with an emotional language that transcends words. What began as a groovy theme for a children’s classic has become a holiday staple known and loved by everyone, everywhere – an intrinsically personal but universally shared connection to time and place and memory that could only have been crafted by a uniquely brilliant composer. More...

John Lennon, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”

Yoko Ono and John Lennon

The BMI holiday countdown concludes with John Lennon’s delicate, defiant “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” Released in December 1971, as Vietnam’s kaleidoscope of violence refracted the horrors of war around the world, the song delivers a softly sung and deeply moving message of hope, peace and humanity. More...

Shy Carter – BMI Pop Awards; Song: “Someday” (Rob Thomas); BMI Country Awards; Song: “Stuck Like Glue” (Sugarland)

Shy Carter

“Receiving both these awards is a blessing,” says Shy Carter. “I feel that I’ve reached a milestone, something that marks the start of what I’m going to do with songwriting. It’s a validation that I’m someone who can write a hit. I’ve always worked hard on my music, but I’ve also tried to put myself in a situation where I could get a song on the charts that could go to No. 1. I’m grateful that BMI has awards like these. There’s no place else where you get this sort of recognition.”

Based in L.A., Shy Carter has been spending lots of time lately in Nashville, where he’s penned two new songs for the next Faith Hill album, slated for release in 2012. “I’m writing nice, soulful r&b pop songs that fit well with country artists,” he says.

Kimberly Perry - BMI Country Awards; Song: “If I Die Young” (The Band Perry)

The Band Perry

“BMI has been wonderfully supportive of the three of us,” says Kimberly Perry, referring to herself and her brothers, Reid and Neil, who together comprise The Band Perry. “To receive a songwriting award from the organization is a huge deal for us. BMI houses so many of our favorite songwriters, and the best writers in the world. To be among them, and to have one of those gold BMI medals to frame, is a tremendous thrill.”

The Band Perry was recently named New Artist of the Year by the Country Music Association. The group has also been nominated for a 2011 Grammy in the Best New Artist category.

Alex Cuba – BMI Latin Awards; Song: “Manos Al Aire” (Nelly Furtado)

Alex Cuba

“Winning the award for something I wrote with someone else—and for someone else—has made me look more seriously at that aspect of my career,” says Alex Cuba. “Up to that point, I had been writing only for myself, pretty much. Now, I’m like, ‘Yes! I’ve got what it takes to go for it.’ You sort of have to walk in another person’s shoes, when you’re writing for them. Winning this award confirmed to me that I did a good job for Nelly, and that I can do the same for others.”

Born and raised in Cuba, the British Columbia-based Alex Cuba won the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist in 2010. He was recently nominated for a 2011 Grammy in the Best Latin Pop Album category.

Alex da Kid – BMI Pop Awards & BMI Urban Awards; Songs: “Love the Way You Lie” (Eminem feat. Rihanna) and “Airplanes” (B.o.B.) (both songs honored at the Pop and Urban ceremonies)

Alex da Kid

“When you work for a long time to achieve something, and then get recognized for attaining that goal, you appreciate it all the more,” says Alex da Kid. “I have much more freedom now, in terms of which projects I choose to work on. That freedom is something I worked hard to achieve. Everyone at BMI has helped me in that endeavor, in so many ways. I look at them as family.”

Alex da Kid has been nominated for five 2011 Grammy Awards, in a variety of categories. “Love the Way You Lie,” which he wrote with Eminem and Skylar Grey, was recently certified five times platinum by the RIAA.

The full list of first-timers is long. Some names are familiar, while others belong to stars rising behind-the-scenes, from Ke$ha, honored at the BMI Pop Awards; and Fraser T. Smith, honored at the BMI Pop Awards and the BMI London Awards; to Predikador, who was recognized at the BMI Latin Awards. Kimberly Perry, of the Band Perry, probably speaks for all the first-time winners when she says: “There’s clearly a spotlight on what we do next. Music is often rooted in the past, but it’s also about the future. We’re working hard figuring out what we want to say next, musically and lyrically. We’re really excited about the songs in the storehouse.”

But as enamored as the world has become with the brazen new guard of young corrido singers like Ortiz and fellow award-winner Larry Hernández who write and perform songs that explore the hard-living that defines so many lives in modern Mexico in unsparing detail, troubadours like Juan Diego Sandoval and Juan José Leyva who have perfected the traditional sound’s softer, romantic fare are also writing for growing audiences. Better known together as Los Juanes, ace songwriting duo Sandoval and Leyva took home Billboard Mexican Song and Banda Song of the Year honors for their ballad “Ni lo intentes,” recorded by Julion Álvarez y su Norteño Banda.

“We write songs that hopefully affect the lives of young people positively,” says Sandoval of his recent successes, which also include a 2011 BMI Latin songwriting award for “Ni Con Otro Corazón,” recorded by Pedro Fernández. Los Juanes’ creations are love songs first and foremost—expertly crafted, sing-a-long stories of break-ups, dedication, emotional insecurities and passion whose success is somewhat surprising in a climate where songs about drugs and violence flourish. “It means that good music also brings good results,” says Sandoval.

While they’re unquestionably in the midst of a hotstreak, the two artists, who have been writing together for 10 years, have been recognized before. Sandoval won his first BMI songwriting award last year for writing “Déjame Vacío,” by El Potro de Sinaloa, which he penned with Leyva, who won his first BMI award in 2005 for La Banda El Recodo’s “Para Toda La Vida,” which he wrote alone.

“Ni lo intentes,” which translates to “Don’t Even Try (To Forget Me),” is “a universal song that could be sung by a man or a woman without changing a thing,” says Sandoval when asked why he thinks the song became such a huge hit. After all, he says, “Who has not felt this way?”