July 29, 2025 • 34 mins
Sarah sits down with Samantha Cox, Vice President of Creative at BMI New York, to explore the vital role BMI plays in supporting songwriters and artists as well as her take on how women are reshaping the music industry.
Sam's journey from small-town Texas to becoming an influential figure in the industry serves as both inspiration and masterclass. With remarkable candor, she shares the moment she discovered a teenage Stephanie Germanotta—soon to become Lady Gaga—and instantly recognized the creative force that would soon captivate the world. "I fell in love instantly," Sam recalls, describing how she watched Gaga transform from an unknown performer on BMI's Lollapalooza stage to returning years later as a global superstar.
Beyond the star-spotting stories, Sam delivers invaluable wisdom for songwriters navigating their careers. Her insights on collaboration, protecting creative work, and leveraging performance rights organizations reveal pathways through the industry that many creators never discover until it's too late. "If someone says you don't need a lawyer, don't work with that person," she warns, providing the kind of straightforward advice that can save careers.
What makes this conversation truly special is the window it provides into BMI's multifaceted support system for artists. From creating networking opportunities through their innovative "Speed Dating for Songwriters" program to serving as advisors, connectors, and advocates, Sam illuminates how performance rights organizations function as much more than just royalty collectors.
Whether you're a songwriter looking to understand your rights, an industry professional seeking deeper insights, or simply curious about how the music business really works, this episode delivers rare, honest perspective from someone who's helped shape countless careers. Listen now and discover why Sam Cox is the music industry powerhouse everyone wants in their corner.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
She creates noise.
She creates noise.
She's moving through the worldwith a powerful voice.
She creates noise.
She creates noise, she createsnoise.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hi, you're listening to Sarah Nagourney and welcome
to.
She Creates Noise, a newpodcast spotlighting women who
power the music industry, comingto you from New York City.
Now, if you don't know me yet,here's a little background.
I'm a songwriter, producer,manager, educator and mentor.
I've written platinum sellingsongs, had tracks on Grammy
(00:44):
nominated educator and mentor.
I've written platinum-sellingsongs, had tracks on
Grammy-nominated records andreleased music on both major and
independent labels.
I've been a jazz singer, ajingle singer, toured with big
bands and became a pop artist,and I've performed at festivals
across the US, europe and Asia.
These days, I focus on writingwith and developing young talent
.
In the coming weeks, I'll bepulling back the curtain on the
(01:08):
music industry's femalechangemakers.
Some are close friends, othersI'm just getting to know, but
all have reshaped the businessin profound ways.
My goal here is to helplisteners better understand how
the music business really worksand just how instrumental women
behind the scenes have been.
You'll hear from both sides ofthe desk artists, producers,
(01:32):
managers, label executives,lawyers.
Women making things happen,often without the spotlight on
them.
Thank you for joining me onthis journey.
Now let's dive in.
Today we're talking to someonewho's truly a powerhouse in the
music industry, my dear friendSamantha Cox, vice President of
Creative New York at BMI.
(01:52):
Sam is one of the mostsupportive, knowledgeable and
genuinely generous people I'vemet in the business.
A few years ago I made thedecision to leave ASCAP an
amazing organization in its ownright but I moved over to BMI
because I wanted to work moreclosely with Sam.
That's how impactful she is.
The care, insight and advocacyshe gives to organizations,
(02:14):
artists and songwriters isunmatched.
What's even more impressive ishow she manages to accomplish so
much.
She's only one person, butsomehow it feels like there's
five of her.
If you're not familiar with BMI,don't worry, sam's going to
break it all down in thisepisode.
In short, bmi is what's knownas a PRO, a performance rights
(02:34):
organization.
They play a critical role inmaking sure that songwriters,
composers and music publishersget paid when their music is
played publicly.
So if you're an up-and-comingartist, a seasoned songwriter or
just curious about the businessside of music, this is an
episode you don't want to miss.
Welcome, sam Cox.
I'm trying to think of how longI've known you, and maybe we
(02:56):
shouldn't say, but it's been awhile.
I've known you through you knowdifferent offices and many
artists that I've worked withand many artists you've
introduced me to, and it's apleasure to have you on.
I just want to talk a littlebit about your journey and what
inspired you to pursue a careerin the music industry, and how
did you come to find yourcurrent role.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Thank you so much, sarah.
I love what you're doing here.
It's been great to know you allthese years.
It's been incredible workingwith you.
Yeah, let me tell you a littlebit about how I got started in
the music industry.
You know, I think, like manypeople, they always wonder how
do you get into the musicindustry?
I think it's like you sort offeel like it's this closed door
and to this day I feel so lucky.
(03:38):
You know, and of course youhave to put yourself in the
right place at the right time,and I sort of felt like all that
happened for me.
But essentially I grew up in avery small town, a little itty
bitty town called Belleville,texas, and I had about 300
people in my high school.
And when I graduated from highschool in 1988, I thought it was
(04:00):
going to go to college and be ateacher.
My mom was a teacher.
I knew I always loved music,but I just thought I'm never
going to get a job in the musicindustry.
How am I going to do that inTexas?
There's nothing here.
And so I went off to collegeand I met my roommate and my
roommate happened to love musicas much as I did, and she was
(04:24):
from San Antonio, texas, from abigger, bigger city.
Her parents were both, you know, entrepreneurial.
The first thing she asked meshe was like, why would you be a
teacher if you love music somuch?
And I said, because where am Igoing to get a job?
How am I going to do that?
I don't know enough about it.
And her friends at the time,actually in San Antonio, played
(04:45):
in a band and they were a bandcalled Pariah.
They were signed to GeffenRecords and I was like, are you
kidding me?
Your friends are in a band.
That's crazy, right?
And so we would start to go seeshows together.
We became really good friendsand, fast forward, she convinced
me to change my major, and backthen there weren't music
(05:08):
business programs like there arenow.
So I thought, what am I goingto change my major to?
But I did.
I changed it to communicationsand then I minored in business
and in the communications trackat the school I was going to,
you could choose between radio,advertising or journalism.
And I was like, well, I'm notgoing to do journalism.
And I thought, well, I'm notgoing to do advertising, Maybe
(05:30):
I'll do radio.
Well then, when I found out Ihad to be on air.
I was like no way not doingthat and so I ended up doing
advertising and I interned at anadvertising agency in Texas, in
Austin, texas, called GSDNM,and then from there I interned
(05:52):
at a radio station, which wasthe most fun I've ever had.
Everyone there was soincredibly nice and I learned so
much of both my internships.
Right, but also I lived inAustin and every year, as most
people know that work in themusic industry.
(06:12):
There's a big music conferencecalled South by Southwest and so
every year I would attend Southby Southwest and one year I
happened to meet a bunch of NewYorkers and they were like come
hang out with us.
You know there was, they werethrowing a party, there was,
there was a show out on thestreet that year with Iggy Pop
and Joan Osborne and we all justbecame friends and they were so
(06:37):
nice.
They convinced me to come toNew York City for the summer
stay and they startedintroducing me to everyone in
New York city.
And that's literally how Iended up in New York city.
I think my mom was completelyshocked.
She always thought I would livein Texas and all of a sudden
the small town girl is likemoving to New York city.
(06:57):
And luckily I was like youngand naive and I was like, yeah,
let's do it.
And I just I just went, you know, and at that point they had
introduced me to a few people.
But one of them they introducedme to still very, very, very
good friends with is Jeff Cohen,and Jeff Cohen at the time
worked at BMI in the creativedepartment Actually they called
(07:19):
it writer, publisher relationsback then and I I went in and I
met him and I remember before I,before I went in, I was like I
got out my all you need to knowabout the music business book
and started reading everything Icould find out about BMI,
because at the time I was likewhat is BMI?
And I did as much research as Icould and I went in and I
(07:41):
interviewed with Jeff and hecouldn't have been nicer.
And at that point he says youknow, I love you, but we
literally just hired someone andI said, well, I will, I'll do
anything.
You know, can I come in?
Can I intern?
And again, back then times werecompletely different.
He was like, yes, you can comein, you can intern.
And I literally just startedcoming in five days a week and
(08:03):
no HR.
No, none of those things.
And I just came in and what wasgreat yeah, what was great is
that the new girl that he hadjust hired was brand new too, so
we literally became really goodfriends.
We helped each other out, andshe's gone on to do amazing
things.
Her name was Brooke Premont, andyou know, we're we're friends
(08:26):
to this day and same with JeffCohen, and as I was in interning
, though, he introduced me toone of his good friends at
Polygram at the time, and I, ofcourse, went for the, the
interview, like immediately.
I remember, like memorizing theentire timeline of Polygram.
I read every book, everything Icould get my hands on, about
Polygram, and I go to thisinterview, and at the end of the
(08:47):
day, they called me back andsaid, hey, you, you have the job
if you want it.
And I thought, oh my gosh, Ididn't, wasn't expecting that,
right.
And.
But at the same time, there wasa position at BMI in the
performing rights department,and the guy who was looking for
looking to hire at that time hadcome to me and said, hey, do
you want to apply for thisposition in this department?
(09:09):
And I had interviewed for it aswell.
And he called me and said youhave the job if you want it.
And so all of a sudden, you hadthese two job opportunities and
was like I didn't know what todo.
But my gut told me to go withBMI.
And one of the reasons why iseveryone at BMI was generally so
(09:32):
incredibly nice.
And two, I thought I was goingto learn a lot at BMI.
I thought I was going to beable to grow at BMI.
And don't get me wrong,Polygram was great and it seemed
it was so appealing because thejob at BMI was behind the
scenes.
It wasn't a creative role, butthere was something in my gut
that told me to do BMI, and it'sto this day.
(09:54):
I do not regret it and a lot oftimes when I give advice, I
always tell people as long asyou've done your research and
you've looked into all youroptions, your gut in the long
run is going to tell you what todo.
And that's exactly what I didin this situation.
And you've been there eversince.
Really, I've been there eversince and that's impressive.
Yeah, which is sort of crazybecause, as you know, in this
(10:16):
music industry that just doesn'thappen.
You bounce from place to placeto place, and not because
someone's not good at what theydo.
It's just that the businesschanges.
Things shift.
You get new people, newpresidents come in, things
change and BMI has always beenconsistent.
It's been a consistent placeand we generally get to help
(10:38):
people and for me, that's what Ilove doing and so even though
I've had yeah, I've had chancesto go other places throughout my
career, but I've always decidedto stay and I and I think I've
made the right decision.
So I'm so happy to be here andI know that's not really a quick
way to explain how I got intothe music industry.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
No, it's very interesting.
I never knew any of this and Iknow you've talked a couple of
times about you know why BMIappealed to you so much.
Those people listening whomight not be familiar with how
BMI works and its role in themusic industry maybe you could
tell us a little bit about howit supports songwriters.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
So essentially, bmi is a performing rights
organization and we ensure thatsongwriters get paid when their
songs are performed publicly so,for example, like on radio,
dsps, retail stores, bars andrestaurants, venues, et cetera.
(11:40):
So we're the ones that licensethose publicly performed
businesses.
We take in the money and thenthe money that we bring in we
distribute back out to thesongwriters that we represent.
So this is one of the mainplaces that a songwriter is
going to get paid and that'simportant in this day and age.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
So you've worked with so many fantastic artists.
I mean, the roster that BMI hasis incredible and you've been
there for a while so you'vereally had so many artists pass
through.
Can you share a memorablesuccess story and also part two
of the question can you tell usa little bit about how you kind
of look for that specialsomething, that X factor, and
(12:24):
how you know someone has thatpotential?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
You know, there's so many incredible stories.
I've worked with so manyincredible songwriters and
artists throughout my career.
I feel so lucky to have come,just be in the presence of so
many, so many, so many talentedpeople.
But I have to say maybe onethat really stands out is
Stephanie Germanotta.
I happened to meet her probably.
(12:47):
I think she was probably about17.
A good friend of mine at thetime was working at the
Songwriters Hall of Fame and hecalled me up and he said there's
this, there's this girl youhave to meet.
You know, she's absolutelyincredible.
And she came into the office,played a few songs on piano and
I fell in love instantly.
I was like who is this?
(13:08):
This is incredible.
And a lot of people thought Iwas crazy at the time.
They thought I don't get this,I don't understand.
And I was like I absolutelylove this, I want to do whatever
I can to help.
And we built a relationship,stephanie and I, and I remember
the first time she came to meand said hey, I think I'm going
to change my name.
(13:29):
I'm going to change it to LadyGaga.
I was like I love it,absolutely love it.
And to Lady Gaga, I was like Ilove it, absolutely love it, and
we did a lot of things together.
The highlight for me, and Ithink the most fun story to tell
, is when she played ourLollapalooza stage in 2006.
And when no one knew who she was, and I just remember the music
(13:50):
came on and people just startedswarming our stage and going who
is this?
And I remember standing next toVincent Herbert, who had just
signed her, was in the processof signing her, and both of us
looking at each other and goingshe is going to be massive, a
(14:10):
global superstar, no doubt inour mind.
Massive, a global superstar, nodoubt in our mind.
And what's really crazy is thatI think it was like two years
later she was headliningLollapalooza.
And not only did she headlineLollapalooza, she came back to
the BMI stage that same year andgot on stage with Semi-Precious
(14:31):
Weapons and stage dived off thestage and we have the most
amazing shot of it.
And so for me, those are justlike it's just an incredible
moment, a success story ofsomeone that I was able to meet
early on in my career, someonewho's just so gifted, talented,
kind, thoughtful, appreciative,and just for her to come back to
(14:54):
the stage and do that at theheight of her career was insane
and I was literally like incomplete shock, complete shock.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I mean, that was someone you recognized your
talent early on and you saw herearly on.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, Absolutely, like, 100%.
What I loved about Stephanie,and what I still love about her
to this day, is that she wascreative in every aspect.
You know, she wrote incrediblesongs, she designed her own
clothes and she understoodchoreography.
(15:30):
She was just creative allaround.
She knew what she wanted.
She was determined to succeed.
Her passion, her drive every bitof it was there right, every
single bit of it.
She was determined, born thisway, right, right, I mean yes,
absolutely.
She was born that way, 100%.
And in fact, I give her as anexample a lot of times.
(15:53):
When to answer your questionabout how do you, what do you
look for in talent, and I saythe work ethic and number one
thing, I mean yes, talent is, ofcourse, you know, very, very,
very important, but I can tellyou I'd rather take someone that
still needs a little time togrow, but I know that they have
(16:14):
that drive and the passion andthe work ethic to just get
better.
You know, and they learn everysingle day and I'll bet on
someone like that any day, allthe time.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And I remember she especially remembered you for
all of your support too.
You told me something aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Billboard Women in Music had just it just started.
I think it was like maybe thesecond year they were doing
these awards, right Go BoardWomen in Music Awards.
I forgot what year it was, butshe was being honored along with
Beyonce and she had.
I hadn't seen her like in ayear.
She had been on the roadtouring, and so I was so excited
to see her right, and it wasjust sort of like she had gone
(16:51):
from like playing her stage atLollapalooza to just like
blowing up Right, and which Iknew she would.
And so as soon as I got there,of course, I went and found her
and I said hi to her and herparents and give her a big hug,
and it was just so nice to seeher.
And then I stopped back down atmy table and the awards happened
(17:11):
and she got up there and talkedabout her career and thanked so
many people that helped herthroughout her career and ended
up thanking me as well, and, tobe honest, it was like I was so
shocked I did not know what todo.
It was like I was famous for 10minutes in the room and
everyone just turned their headand I said, wow, this was.
(17:32):
This is what it must be like tobe famous right For at least 10
minutes.
It was really unbelievable andto this day I don't think she
knows how that sort of changedmy career trajectory so much and
how people looked at mecompletely differently after
that.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Well, it sounded like she did more than thank you.
She really made a big statementabout how important you were in
her career.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
She did, she did and it was one of those moments that
I will never forget it and, andliterally I, sometimes I'm, I
just I'm like still blown awayby it and every day I I do
believe she changed thetrajectory of my career, Much
deserved.
If you're listening, Gaga,thank you Great.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Well, that's fantastic.
I know that you and I havetalked about this, the
importance of collaboration,because we know artists that
like to write by themselves.
We know artists that never liketo write by themselves.
But how important do you thinkcollaboration is in songwriting,
and how does BMI fosteropportunities for them to
connect?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
A lot of people can write songs on their own, and I
think they can be great atwriting songs on their own.
But what I will say is when youcollaborate, there's more
opportunity.
As a young songwriter, you know, I meet sitting in the position
that I sit in at BMI.
I tend to meet people veryearly on in the career, I mean
the first starting.
(18:56):
They don't have a lot ofconnections, and so we at BMI
and myself, we tend to be theconduit for connections right
into the music industry and youcan write a song by yourself,
which is great, but when youcollaborate with other people,
you're giving yourself moreopportunity to reach more people
, which is why I alwaysencourage collaboration, one of
(19:17):
the main reasons.
The other reason is because youmay learn something that you
never thought of before, right,and maybe you don't like the
song you wrote at that momentwith that person, but maybe you
learned something in thatsongwriting session that you
take into a new session, right.
So there's a lot of greatreasons for collaborating, but
those are two of my mostfavorite.
(19:39):
And really it's like when youwrite with, say, three or four
people, maybe you're notpublished yet, but the other two
people are published andthey're going and playing the
song that the three of you wroteto their publisher and the
publisher's going wait, who didyou co-write that with?
Oh wait, I don't know thatperson.
I need to meet that person.
(20:00):
So it's like this natural wayof meeting publishers or meeting
people in the industry withouthaving it be forced.
You know, if your name startsto come up in more conversations
, everyone starts to go wait,who is that person?
It's basically networking iswhat it is at the end of the day
.
So I think it's so important tohave an open mind, as hard as
(20:22):
it is as a creative, tocollaborate.
Sometimes collaborating canreally change your career and
move you in a direction that youcould never imagine.
You know where it can take you.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And also there's four people in the room.
If you don't want to releasethe song, maybe somebody else
who's in the room wants torelease the song.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Absolutely.
There was a time when I'd hopedto cut a songwriting session up
.
I won't name names right, butit was a really good session.
A couple of writers that werestill, you know, on the rise.
They hadn't had major thingshappen yet, but they were all
really, really talented.
Things were happening.
People wanted to work with them.
(21:02):
They came out writing anincredible song.
It was supposed to be for thisartist that was in the room and
the artist was so excited aboutit and loved it.
But then the producer who wason the song had played it for a
friend of his at a label and theguy at the label said oh my
(21:22):
gosh, this would be amazing forthis artist that I have.
And it was a big artist, a verybig artist.
And the young, up-and-comingartist that had written the.
And it was a big artist, a verybig artist, and the young, up
and coming artist that hadwritten a song that was so
excited to release it was sodisappointed, right, Like, very
disappointed.
Like this was her song.
She was so excited, it wasgonna be a great song for her to
release.
But at the end of the day, thebigger artists released it and
(21:45):
it changed the younger artist'scareer.
It really spawned her career atthat point and changed the
whole direction of her careerand she has become a huge artist
since then.
So again, being open-minded, ashard as it might be, and
knowing sort of where you are inyour career and knowing what
(22:05):
kind of leverage you have Ialways say leverage is the name
of the game and knowing when tojust sort of fight your battles
and when to sort of go okay,let's, let's go ahead and and
and try this thing and see whathappens, right, see where it
leads.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
We've got a Benson Boone or someone like that who
wants to do your song.
Go, let it go, let him do it.
Yeah, actually, if, if I couldask you it's just off the top of
your head can you mention a fewnames of people who've passed
through your office and you'vewatched develop, other than Lady
Gaga?
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Kesha, to Halsey, to ex-ambassadors, to oh my gosh, I
feel bad because I know I'mleaving so many people out.
Like when you just think aboutthose are all artists, but but
songwriters, when I think aboutsongwriters, I think about you
know, I was just at our BMI popawards in Los Angeles and, um,
seeing Jesse Fink win an awardthis year for stargazing blew my
(22:59):
mind, because I've known himfor a very long time when he was
at Penn and he had his band HayDays.
Hay Days at the time had signedto Universal and he had his
band Hay Days.
(23:20):
Hay Days at the time had signedto Universal.
The band sort of split andbroke up, but then he continued
to write and he just had, youknow, one of the biggest songs
of last year and and then wealso honored him with a number
one award, come along withanother BMI songwriter, peter
Finn, who I absolutely love andendure as well.
Just a great moment to seesomeone that you've known for so
long really just rise to thetop.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I wonder if you could I know we've talked a little
bit about this but maybe offersome advice to aspiring
songwriters practical steps.
I know we talked aboutcollaboration, how to protect
their work, how to avoid commonmistakes.
Is there anything that comes tomind?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Sure, yeah, going back just on the collaborating
part a little bit, one of thethings that BMI does is and this
really goes to answer yourquestion right now too is we do
something called speed datingfor songwriters.
It's exactly what it soundslike.
We take four top liners, fourproducers and four artists and
we really curate these right andwork with my team here in New
(24:19):
York.
And we don't just do it here inNew York, we do it in our other
offices as well.
What we do is we bring we bringthose 12 people together.
What we hope at the end of theday is they become friends, they
build community, they growtogether in the industry and
that they find collaboratorsthat they can work with
(24:40):
throughout their career.
Yeah, it's just a great place.
Again, it goes back to like atBMI, we're here to help the
young, new songwriter, right,and that's just one of the ways
we do it.
I think about, you know, whenAndrew Seltzer met Maggie Rogers
in Speed Dating and they Ithink her third single that came
(25:01):
out was something that they hadwritten together in Speed
Dating right, and so there'speople that have become partners
together, like production duostogether, right, and gone on to
do great things.
So it's just a great way againto network, meet the right
people in the music industry anduse BMI as your support system.
Right, that's what we're herefor, so that's just one way.
(25:23):
So, basically, registering withyour PRO and getting to know
the creative people on your teamat your PRO I would know the
creative people on your team atyour PRO, I would say.
The MLC is another great placeSound exchange, you know, those
are all things that you need todo as a beginning songwriter to
make sure that you get paid.
I always tell people if theywant to.
Those are like ways to protecttheir works.
But another way to protectanything you do is just just
(25:46):
don't sign anything, not untilyou actually talk to someone
that that either works in thebusiness or you find an attorney
to talk to.
I would say if someone reallywants to work with you, they're
going to be fine with youspeaking to an attorney or
speaking to someone like myselfor or others that work in the
music industry, so that you canget advice, and solid advice and
(26:09):
good information before yousign anything with anyone
whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
If someone says you don't need a lawyer, don't work
with that person.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Absolutely.
And again, that just goes backto sort of what we do in the
creative department at BMI.
I feel like I should expandupon that A lot of times.
I like to say I have five jobsand one of them is I feel like
I'm an A&R executive at a label,in the sense of, you know,
being in the studio, discoveringnew music, going out and seeing
(26:42):
new live music.
I feel like I'm a publisher alot of times because I'm hooking
up co-writes and connectingsongwriters and producers and
artists together on a regularbasis.
A lot of times I feel like I'm amanager and you know a lot of
songwriters and producers.
They don't have managers, right, and artists don't have
(27:03):
managers either when they'rewhen they're first starting off.
So we become sort of like asafe place for songwriters to to
come, get, get information andadvice to help them, you know,
point them in the rightdirection, so that they don't,
you know, get into situationswhich I'm sure you hear about a
(27:25):
lot, like someone will come inand they'll be like, oh, I
signed this deal with someoneand I'm like, well, who did you?
Who, who allowed you to signthat?
And they're like, oh, I justsigned it.
And I'm like, well, I look andI'm like, oh my gosh, we can
(27:49):
help you navigate a lot of thisRight.
And so when I say I feel likeI'm a manager, what I really
mean is we're like advisors.
You know, maybe someoneapproached you and you're not
sure if they're a legitimateperson.
Nine times out of 10, we'llknow.
You know, we'll know if that'sa legitimate person.
If it's not, um, we can help youdo your research.
(28:15):
Um, we can, we can helpintroduce you to attorneys, we
can help introduce you tomanagers and, you know, really
just help put your team together, frankly, um, help create
opportunities for you.
You know, we have, um, ourindie page, where we feature new
artists.
We have our music Mondayplaylist, where we feature new
artists.
We have our indie page, wherewe feature new artists.
We have our Music Mondayplaylist, where we feature new
artists.
We have we'll do Instagramtakeovers.
We have our stages, which Ialluded to earlier, like at
(28:35):
Lollapalooza and Austin CityLimits.
We have we do things at Southby Southwest.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
And also the artist showcases which you're having,
one tonight which I'm going togo to?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yes, we are.
We do something called theAcoustic Lounge.
We do that on a monthly basiswhere we have it's sort of like
a storytelling acoustic night,sort of like Bluebird Cafe style
, very Nashville, where we havetwo writers perform in a round
and talk about their songs andthen they play their songs.
(29:05):
So it's always a great night ofmusic, and so we do all those
types of things here, and sofrom that A&R publicity, I guess
moving on.
So there's A&R there'spublishing, there's management.
I feel like we are eventplanners, and that goes back to
some of the things I was justtouching on, from our showcases
(29:27):
to our services, like our newMusic Monday playlist, our
acoustic lounge.
So the big thing is, I feel likewe are administrative and
education executives, and what Imean by that is, from an
administrative standpoint, wewant to make sure that a writer
(29:48):
gets signed up with BMI, theyget their publishing company set
up, they get their worksregistered, they're signed up
for BMI Live All of these really, really important things.
Because if those things don'tget done, you're not that, you
get paid, you're performingrights, royalties and your songs
are played on radio, tv, dspsand live performances.
(30:14):
So we want to help you get allthat set up and explain to you
what it all means as well.
Right, and so we also speak onpanels a lot, we speak at
conferences, we educate thecommunity at large about what we
do at BMI.
So that's, believe it or not, aquick way to explain what we do
.
It's amazing.
That's the way I sort of liketo explain it.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I, like you, have five jobs.
This is why we want to businesspeople in the world.
It's amazing what you guys do.
You're incredibly helpful andalways a resource.
I mean whenever possible, whenyou have the time, I love
sitting down with you andgetting some ideas about what
I'm working on and who I'mworking with, and you've always
got so many suggestions andideas of who I should talk to or
(30:59):
whatever, and it's anincredible resource.
You are an incredible resource.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
We love doing it.
It's so much fun because whenyou make those connections and
then you see people go on tosucceed in those connections,
it's, it's rewarding, right, andit's sort of what keeps you
going and and it makes you go.
Okay, we are, we are valuableand we do, we do provide a
service and so so thank you forthat.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yes, I I'm, you know, always impressed with what you
do.
I just wonder if there'sanything that I missed asking
you, anything you wanted tomention.
There's so much to cover.
Yeah, I mean there's?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
oh gosh, there is.
I think we have probably talkedfor another hour.
If you let me right, I guesswhat I might mention is recently
we launched this new programcalled the Spark Program and
it's designed to help musiccreators really thrive
throughout every stage of theircareer.
That's where we offer exclusivedeals and special discounts on
(31:54):
different types of things, likein career development, lifestyle
and wellbeing and education,things like that.
So there's discounts for, like,band lab or Berkeley online or
co-signed or disco just makerson the website.
It had to be in my website,okay, yeah, on disco, disc
makers and that's on the website.
You had the BMI website.
Yeah, on our website, right,and I'm just excited about it
because we just launched it.
Really, it's something thatI've wanted us to do for a long
(32:16):
time and we have finally beenable to do it and it's really
exciting for me to talk about.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
I'll try to put it in a link at the bottom of the
interview.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Yeah, absolutely, we can definitely do that.
I'll get that link for you andI'll send it over.
Yeah, I would say that'sprobably it, and I just want to
really maybe just give someinspiring advice to songwriters
is just to never give up,because this industry is ever
changing and if someone tellsyou no, that person that tells
you no could be out of a jobtomorrow and they'll be a new
(32:46):
person in that position.
So to just just keep going andremember that we do this for the
love of music and that's really, yeah, what inspires me, what
inspires, I think, all of us,and why we're all here.
And so, if you ever get down oryou're feeling like you're
uninspired, go listen to yourfavorite album, go see a show.
(33:07):
I mean, that's, that's reallywhat excites me and keeps me
going.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
That's great, Wonderful advice, so wonderful
to have you, Sam.
I I'm looking forward tolistening to this back and and
seeing you tonight at theshowcase at the Acoustic Mound.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
It's going to be a fun night of great music and
it's at Pete's Candy Storetonight.
We moved to a new venue because, sadly, Rockwood Music Hall
closed down very, very sadly.
But we've been doing Pete'sCandy Store, which has been very
kind to us, and this is the Ithink the third time we're doing
it there.
So it's going to be a greatnight of music.
So if you hear this, come, comejoin us.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
I look forward to it.
Thank you so much, sam.
She creates noise.
I'd like to thank today'ssponsor, heard City, the premier
audio post-production companyservicing the advertising,
motion picture and televisionindustries right here in NYC.
I'd also like to thank Antello,aka XON, for singing the she
(34:03):
Creates Noise theme that I wroteThanks for listening to.
She Creates Noise.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe, rate and
share.
I want to thank the team hereBlair Reinle, jelena Stavanovic,
emily Wilson and the Master ofEngineering and Grammy-winning
Cooper Anderson.
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
She creates noise.
She creates noise.
We hear her voice she createsnoise.
We hear her voice she createsnoise.
She creates noise.
She creates noise.
We hear her voice, she createsnoise.
She creates noise.
She creates noise.
She's moving through the worldwith a powerful voice.
She creates noise.
She creates noise, she createsnoise.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hi, you're listening to Sarah Nagourney and welcome
to.
She Creates Noise, a newpodcast spotlighting women who
power the music industry, comingto you from New York City.
Now, if you don't know me yet,here's a little background.
I'm a songwriter, producer,manager, educator and mentor.
I've written platinum sellingsongs, had tracks on Grammy
(00:44):
nominated educator and mentor.
I've written platinum-sellingsongs, had tracks on
Grammy-nominated records andreleased music on both major and
independent labels.
I've been a jazz singer, ajingle singer, toured with big
bands and became a pop artist,and I've performed at festivals
across the US, europe and Asia.
These days, I focus on writingwith and developing young talent
.
In the coming weeks, I'll bepulling back the curtain on the
(01:08):
music industry's femalechangemakers.
Some are close friends, othersI'm just getting to know, but
all have reshaped the businessin profound ways.
My goal here is to helplisteners better understand how
the music business really worksand just how instrumental women
behind the scenes have been.
You'll hear from both sides ofthe desk artists, producers,
(01:32):
managers, label executives,lawyers.
Women making things happen,often without the spotlight on
them.
Thank you for joining me onthis journey.
Now let's dive in.
Today we're talking to someonewho's truly a powerhouse in the
music industry, my dear friendSamantha Cox, vice President of
Creative New York at BMI.
(01:52):
Sam is one of the mostsupportive, knowledgeable and
genuinely generous people I'vemet in the business.
A few years ago I made thedecision to leave ASCAP an
amazing organization in its ownright but I moved over to BMI
because I wanted to work moreclosely with Sam.
That's how impactful she is.
The care, insight and advocacyshe gives to organizations,
(02:14):
artists and songwriters isunmatched.
What's even more impressive ishow she manages to accomplish so
much.
She's only one person, butsomehow it feels like there's
five of her.
If you're not familiar with BMI,don't worry, sam's going to
break it all down in thisepisode.
In short, bmi is what's knownas a PRO, a performance rights
(02:34):
organization.
They play a critical role inmaking sure that songwriters,
composers and music publishersget paid when their music is
played publicly.
So if you're an up-and-comingartist, a seasoned songwriter or
just curious about the businessside of music, this is an
episode you don't want to miss.
Welcome, sam Cox.
I'm trying to think of how longI've known you, and maybe we
(02:56):
shouldn't say, but it's been awhile.
I've known you through you knowdifferent offices and many
artists that I've worked withand many artists you've
introduced me to, and it's apleasure to have you on.
I just want to talk a littlebit about your journey and what
inspired you to pursue a careerin the music industry, and how
did you come to find yourcurrent role.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Thank you so much, sarah.
I love what you're doing here.
It's been great to know you allthese years.
It's been incredible workingwith you.
Yeah, let me tell you a littlebit about how I got started in
the music industry.
You know, I think, like manypeople, they always wonder how
do you get into the musicindustry?
I think it's like you sort offeel like it's this closed door
and to this day I feel so lucky.
(03:38):
You know, and of course youhave to put yourself in the
right place at the right time,and I sort of felt like all that
happened for me.
But essentially I grew up in avery small town, a little itty
bitty town called Belleville,texas, and I had about 300
people in my high school.
And when I graduated from highschool in 1988, I thought it was
(04:00):
going to go to college and be ateacher.
My mom was a teacher.
I knew I always loved music,but I just thought I'm never
going to get a job in the musicindustry.
How am I going to do that inTexas?
There's nothing here.
And so I went off to collegeand I met my roommate and my
roommate happened to love musicas much as I did, and she was
(04:24):
from San Antonio, texas, from abigger, bigger city.
Her parents were both, you know, entrepreneurial.
The first thing she asked meshe was like, why would you be a
teacher if you love music somuch?
And I said, because where am Igoing to get a job?
How am I going to do that?
I don't know enough about it.
And her friends at the time,actually in San Antonio, played
(04:45):
in a band and they were a bandcalled Pariah.
They were signed to GeffenRecords and I was like, are you
kidding me?
Your friends are in a band.
That's crazy, right?
And so we would start to go seeshows together.
We became really good friendsand, fast forward, she convinced
me to change my major, and backthen there weren't music
(05:08):
business programs like there arenow.
So I thought, what am I goingto change my major to?
But I did.
I changed it to communicationsand then I minored in business
and in the communications trackat the school I was going to,
you could choose between radio,advertising or journalism.
And I was like, well, I'm notgoing to do journalism.
And I thought, well, I'm notgoing to do advertising, Maybe
(05:30):
I'll do radio.
Well then, when I found out Ihad to be on air.
I was like no way not doingthat and so I ended up doing
advertising and I interned at anadvertising agency in Texas, in
Austin, texas, called GSDNM,and then from there I interned
(05:52):
at a radio station, which wasthe most fun I've ever had.
Everyone there was soincredibly nice and I learned so
much of both my internships.
Right, but also I lived inAustin and every year, as most
people know that work in themusic industry.
(06:12):
There's a big music conferencecalled South by Southwest and so
every year I would attend Southby Southwest and one year I
happened to meet a bunch of NewYorkers and they were like come
hang out with us.
You know there was, they werethrowing a party, there was,
there was a show out on thestreet that year with Iggy Pop
and Joan Osborne and we all justbecame friends and they were so
(06:37):
nice.
They convinced me to come toNew York City for the summer
stay and they startedintroducing me to everyone in
New York city.
And that's literally how Iended up in New York city.
I think my mom was completelyshocked.
She always thought I would livein Texas and all of a sudden
the small town girl is likemoving to New York city.
(06:57):
And luckily I was like youngand naive and I was like, yeah,
let's do it.
And I just I just went, you know, and at that point they had
introduced me to a few people.
But one of them they introducedme to still very, very, very
good friends with is Jeff Cohen,and Jeff Cohen at the time
worked at BMI in the creativedepartment Actually they called
(07:19):
it writer, publisher relationsback then and I I went in and I
met him and I remember before I,before I went in, I was like I
got out my all you need to knowabout the music business book
and started reading everything Icould find out about BMI,
because at the time I was likewhat is BMI?
And I did as much research as Icould and I went in and I
(07:41):
interviewed with Jeff and hecouldn't have been nicer.
And at that point he says youknow, I love you, but we
literally just hired someone andI said, well, I will, I'll do
anything.
You know, can I come in?
Can I intern?
And again, back then times werecompletely different.
He was like, yes, you can comein, you can intern.
And I literally just startedcoming in five days a week and
(08:03):
no HR.
No, none of those things.
And I just came in and what wasgreat yeah, what was great is
that the new girl that he hadjust hired was brand new too, so
we literally became really goodfriends.
We helped each other out, andshe's gone on to do amazing
things.
Her name was Brooke Premont, andyou know, we're we're friends
(08:26):
to this day and same with JeffCohen, and as I was in interning
, though, he introduced me toone of his good friends at
Polygram at the time, and I, ofcourse, went for the, the
interview, like immediately.
I remember, like memorizing theentire timeline of Polygram.
I read every book, everything Icould get my hands on, about
Polygram, and I go to thisinterview, and at the end of the
(08:47):
day, they called me back andsaid, hey, you, you have the job
if you want it.
And I thought, oh my gosh, Ididn't, wasn't expecting that,
right.
And.
But at the same time, there wasa position at BMI in the
performing rights department,and the guy who was looking for
looking to hire at that time hadcome to me and said, hey, do
you want to apply for thisposition in this department?
(09:09):
And I had interviewed for it aswell.
And he called me and said youhave the job if you want it.
And so all of a sudden, you hadthese two job opportunities and
was like I didn't know what todo.
But my gut told me to go withBMI.
And one of the reasons why iseveryone at BMI was generally so
(09:32):
incredibly nice.
And two, I thought I was goingto learn a lot at BMI.
I thought I was going to beable to grow at BMI.
And don't get me wrong,Polygram was great and it seemed
it was so appealing because thejob at BMI was behind the
scenes.
It wasn't a creative role, butthere was something in my gut
that told me to do BMI, and it'sto this day.
(09:54):
I do not regret it and a lot oftimes when I give advice, I
always tell people as long asyou've done your research and
you've looked into all youroptions, your gut in the long
run is going to tell you what todo.
And that's exactly what I didin this situation.
And you've been there eversince.
Really, I've been there eversince and that's impressive.
Yeah, which is sort of crazybecause, as you know, in this
(10:16):
music industry that just doesn'thappen.
You bounce from place to placeto place, and not because
someone's not good at what theydo.
It's just that the businesschanges.
Things shift.
You get new people, newpresidents come in, things
change and BMI has always beenconsistent.
It's been a consistent placeand we generally get to help
(10:38):
people and for me, that's what Ilove doing and so even though
I've had yeah, I've had chancesto go other places throughout my
career, but I've always decidedto stay and I and I think I've
made the right decision.
So I'm so happy to be here andI know that's not really a quick
way to explain how I got intothe music industry.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
No, it's very interesting.
I never knew any of this and Iknow you've talked a couple of
times about you know why BMIappealed to you so much.
Those people listening whomight not be familiar with how
BMI works and its role in themusic industry maybe you could
tell us a little bit about howit supports songwriters.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
So essentially, bmi is a performing rights
organization and we ensure thatsongwriters get paid when their
songs are performed publicly so,for example, like on radio,
dsps, retail stores, bars andrestaurants, venues, et cetera.
(11:40):
So we're the ones that licensethose publicly performed
businesses.
We take in the money and thenthe money that we bring in we
distribute back out to thesongwriters that we represent.
So this is one of the mainplaces that a songwriter is
going to get paid and that'simportant in this day and age.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
So you've worked with so many fantastic artists.
I mean, the roster that BMI hasis incredible and you've been
there for a while so you'vereally had so many artists pass
through.
Can you share a memorablesuccess story and also part two
of the question can you tell usa little bit about how you kind
of look for that specialsomething, that X factor, and
(12:24):
how you know someone has thatpotential?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
You know, there's so many incredible stories.
I've worked with so manyincredible songwriters and
artists throughout my career.
I feel so lucky to have come,just be in the presence of so
many, so many, so many talentedpeople.
But I have to say maybe onethat really stands out is
Stephanie Germanotta.
I happened to meet her probably.
(12:47):
I think she was probably about17.
A good friend of mine at thetime was working at the
Songwriters Hall of Fame and hecalled me up and he said there's
this, there's this girl youhave to meet.
You know, she's absolutelyincredible.
And she came into the office,played a few songs on piano and
I fell in love instantly.
I was like who is this?
(13:08):
This is incredible.
And a lot of people thought Iwas crazy at the time.
They thought I don't get this,I don't understand.
And I was like I absolutelylove this, I want to do whatever
I can to help.
And we built a relationship,stephanie and I, and I remember
the first time she came to meand said hey, I think I'm going
to change my name.
(13:29):
I'm going to change it to LadyGaga.
I was like I love it,absolutely love it.
And to Lady Gaga, I was like Ilove it, absolutely love it, and
we did a lot of things together.
The highlight for me, and Ithink the most fun story to tell
, is when she played ourLollapalooza stage in 2006.
And when no one knew who she was, and I just remember the music
(13:50):
came on and people just startedswarming our stage and going who
is this?
And I remember standing next toVincent Herbert, who had just
signed her, was in the processof signing her, and both of us
looking at each other and goingshe is going to be massive, a
(14:10):
global superstar, no doubt inour mind.
Massive, a global superstar, nodoubt in our mind.
And what's really crazy is thatI think it was like two years
later she was headliningLollapalooza.
And not only did she headlineLollapalooza, she came back to
the BMI stage that same year andgot on stage with Semi-Precious
(14:31):
Weapons and stage dived off thestage and we have the most
amazing shot of it.
And so for me, those are justlike it's just an incredible
moment, a success story ofsomeone that I was able to meet
early on in my career, someonewho's just so gifted, talented,
kind, thoughtful, appreciative,and just for her to come back to
(14:54):
the stage and do that at theheight of her career was insane
and I was literally like incomplete shock, complete shock.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I mean, that was someone you recognized your
talent early on and you saw herearly on.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, Absolutely, like, 100%.
What I loved about Stephanie,and what I still love about her
to this day, is that she wascreative in every aspect.
You know, she wrote incrediblesongs, she designed her own
clothes and she understoodchoreography.
(15:30):
She was just creative allaround.
She knew what she wanted.
She was determined to succeed.
Her passion, her drive every bitof it was there right, every
single bit of it.
She was determined, born thisway, right, right, I mean yes,
absolutely.
She was born that way, 100%.
And in fact, I give her as anexample a lot of times.
(15:53):
When to answer your questionabout how do you, what do you
look for in talent, and I saythe work ethic and number one
thing, I mean yes, talent is, ofcourse, you know, very, very,
very important, but I can tellyou I'd rather take someone that
still needs a little time togrow, but I know that they have
(16:14):
that drive and the passion andthe work ethic to just get
better.
You know, and they learn everysingle day and I'll bet on
someone like that any day, allthe time.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And I remember she especially remembered you for
all of your support too.
You told me something aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Billboard Women in Music had just it just started.
I think it was like maybe thesecond year they were doing
these awards, right Go BoardWomen in Music Awards.
I forgot what year it was, butshe was being honored along with
Beyonce and she had.
I hadn't seen her like in ayear.
She had been on the roadtouring, and so I was so excited
to see her right, and it wasjust sort of like she had gone
(16:51):
from like playing her stage atLollapalooza to just like
blowing up Right, and which Iknew she would.
And so as soon as I got there,of course, I went and found her
and I said hi to her and herparents and give her a big hug,
and it was just so nice to seeher.
And then I stopped back down atmy table and the awards happened
(17:11):
and she got up there and talkedabout her career and thanked so
many people that helped herthroughout her career and ended
up thanking me as well, and, tobe honest, it was like I was so
shocked I did not know what todo.
It was like I was famous for 10minutes in the room and
everyone just turned their headand I said, wow, this was.
(17:32):
This is what it must be like tobe famous right For at least 10
minutes.
It was really unbelievable andto this day I don't think she
knows how that sort of changedmy career trajectory so much and
how people looked at mecompletely differently after
that.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Well, it sounded like she did more than thank you.
She really made a big statementabout how important you were in
her career.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
She did, she did and it was one of those moments that
I will never forget it and, andliterally I, sometimes I'm, I
just I'm like still blown awayby it and every day I I do
believe she changed thetrajectory of my career, Much
deserved.
If you're listening, Gaga,thank you Great.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Well, that's fantastic.
I know that you and I havetalked about this, the
importance of collaboration,because we know artists that
like to write by themselves.
We know artists that never liketo write by themselves.
But how important do you thinkcollaboration is in songwriting,
and how does BMI fosteropportunities for them to
connect?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
A lot of people can write songs on their own, and I
think they can be great atwriting songs on their own.
But what I will say is when youcollaborate, there's more
opportunity.
As a young songwriter, you know, I meet sitting in the position
that I sit in at BMI.
I tend to meet people veryearly on in the career, I mean
the first starting.
(18:56):
They don't have a lot ofconnections, and so we at BMI
and myself, we tend to be theconduit for connections right
into the music industry and youcan write a song by yourself,
which is great, but when youcollaborate with other people,
you're giving yourself moreopportunity to reach more people
, which is why I alwaysencourage collaboration, one of
(19:17):
the main reasons.
The other reason is because youmay learn something that you
never thought of before, right,and maybe you don't like the
song you wrote at that momentwith that person, but maybe you
learned something in thatsongwriting session that you
take into a new session, right.
So there's a lot of greatreasons for collaborating, but
those are two of my mostfavorite.
(19:39):
And really it's like when youwrite with, say, three or four
people, maybe you're notpublished yet, but the other two
people are published andthey're going and playing the
song that the three of you wroteto their publisher and the
publisher's going wait, who didyou co-write that with?
Oh wait, I don't know thatperson.
I need to meet that person.
(20:00):
So it's like this natural wayof meeting publishers or meeting
people in the industry withouthaving it be forced.
You know, if your name startsto come up in more conversations
, everyone starts to go wait,who is that person?
It's basically networking iswhat it is at the end of the day
.
So I think it's so important tohave an open mind, as hard as
(20:22):
it is as a creative, tocollaborate.
Sometimes collaborating canreally change your career and
move you in a direction that youcould never imagine.
You know where it can take you.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And also there's four people in the room.
If you don't want to releasethe song, maybe somebody else
who's in the room wants torelease the song.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Absolutely.
There was a time when I'd hopedto cut a songwriting session up
.
I won't name names right, butit was a really good session.
A couple of writers that werestill, you know, on the rise.
They hadn't had major thingshappen yet, but they were all
really, really talented.
Things were happening.
People wanted to work with them.
(21:02):
They came out writing anincredible song.
It was supposed to be for thisartist that was in the room and
the artist was so excited aboutit and loved it.
But then the producer who wason the song had played it for a
friend of his at a label and theguy at the label said oh my
(21:22):
gosh, this would be amazing forthis artist that I have.
And it was a big artist, a verybig artist.
And the young, up-and-comingartist that had written the.
And it was a big artist, a verybig artist, and the young, up
and coming artist that hadwritten a song that was so
excited to release it was sodisappointed, right, Like, very
disappointed.
Like this was her song.
She was so excited, it wasgonna be a great song for her to
release.
But at the end of the day, thebigger artists released it and
(21:45):
it changed the younger artist'scareer.
It really spawned her career atthat point and changed the
whole direction of her careerand she has become a huge artist
since then.
So again, being open-minded, ashard as it might be, and
knowing sort of where you are inyour career and knowing what
(22:05):
kind of leverage you have Ialways say leverage is the name
of the game and knowing when tojust sort of fight your battles
and when to sort of go okay,let's, let's go ahead and and
and try this thing and see whathappens, right, see where it
leads.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
We've got a Benson Boone or someone like that who
wants to do your song.
Go, let it go, let him do it.
Yeah, actually, if, if I couldask you it's just off the top of
your head can you mention a fewnames of people who've passed
through your office and you'vewatched develop, other than Lady
Gaga?
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Kesha, to Halsey, to ex-ambassadors, to oh my gosh, I
feel bad because I know I'mleaving so many people out.
Like when you just think aboutthose are all artists, but but
songwriters, when I think aboutsongwriters, I think about you
know, I was just at our BMI popawards in Los Angeles and, um,
seeing Jesse Fink win an awardthis year for stargazing blew my
(22:59):
mind, because I've known himfor a very long time when he was
at Penn and he had his band HayDays.
Hay Days at the time had signedto Universal and he had his
band Hay Days.
(23:20):
Hay Days at the time had signedto Universal.
The band sort of split andbroke up, but then he continued
to write and he just had, youknow, one of the biggest songs
of last year and and then wealso honored him with a number
one award, come along withanother BMI songwriter, peter
Finn, who I absolutely love andendure as well.
Just a great moment to seesomeone that you've known for so
long really just rise to thetop.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I wonder if you could I know we've talked a little
bit about this but maybe offersome advice to aspiring
songwriters practical steps.
I know we talked aboutcollaboration, how to protect
their work, how to avoid commonmistakes.
Is there anything that comes tomind?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Sure, yeah, going back just on the collaborating
part a little bit, one of thethings that BMI does is and this
really goes to answer yourquestion right now too is we do
something called speed datingfor songwriters.
It's exactly what it soundslike.
We take four top liners, fourproducers and four artists and
we really curate these right andwork with my team here in New
(24:19):
York.
And we don't just do it here inNew York, we do it in our other
offices as well.
What we do is we bring we bringthose 12 people together.
What we hope at the end of theday is they become friends, they
build community, they growtogether in the industry and
that they find collaboratorsthat they can work with
(24:40):
throughout their career.
Yeah, it's just a great place.
Again, it goes back to like atBMI, we're here to help the
young, new songwriter, right,and that's just one of the ways
we do it.
I think about, you know, whenAndrew Seltzer met Maggie Rogers
in Speed Dating and they Ithink her third single that came
(25:01):
out was something that they hadwritten together in Speed
Dating right, and so there'speople that have become partners
together, like production duostogether, right, and gone on to
do great things.
So it's just a great way againto network, meet the right
people in the music industry anduse BMI as your support system.
Right, that's what we're herefor, so that's just one way.
(25:23):
So, basically, registering withyour PRO and getting to know
the creative people on your teamat your PRO I would know the
creative people on your team atyour PRO, I would say.
The MLC is another great placeSound exchange, you know, those
are all things that you need todo as a beginning songwriter to
make sure that you get paid.
I always tell people if theywant to.
Those are like ways to protecttheir works.
But another way to protectanything you do is just just
(25:46):
don't sign anything, not untilyou actually talk to someone
that that either works in thebusiness or you find an attorney
to talk to.
I would say if someone reallywants to work with you, they're
going to be fine with youspeaking to an attorney or
speaking to someone like myselfor or others that work in the
music industry, so that you canget advice, and solid advice and
(26:09):
good information before yousign anything with anyone
whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
If someone says you don't need a lawyer, don't work
with that person.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Absolutely.
And again, that just goes backto sort of what we do in the
creative department at BMI.
I feel like I should expandupon that A lot of times.
I like to say I have five jobsand one of them is I feel like
I'm an A&R executive at a label,in the sense of, you know,
being in the studio, discoveringnew music, going out and seeing
(26:42):
new live music.
I feel like I'm a publisher alot of times because I'm hooking
up co-writes and connectingsongwriters and producers and
artists together on a regularbasis.
A lot of times I feel like I'm amanager and you know a lot of
songwriters and producers.
They don't have managers, right, and artists don't have
(27:03):
managers either when they'rewhen they're first starting off.
So we become sort of like asafe place for songwriters to to
come, get, get information andadvice to help them, you know,
point them in the rightdirection, so that they don't,
you know, get into situationswhich I'm sure you hear about a
(27:25):
lot, like someone will come inand they'll be like, oh, I
signed this deal with someoneand I'm like, well, who did you?
Who, who allowed you to signthat?
And they're like, oh, I justsigned it.
And I'm like, well, I look andI'm like, oh my gosh, we can
(27:49):
help you navigate a lot of thisRight.
And so when I say I feel likeI'm a manager, what I really
mean is we're like advisors.
You know, maybe someoneapproached you and you're not
sure if they're a legitimateperson.
Nine times out of 10, we'llknow.
You know, we'll know if that'sa legitimate person.
If it's not, um, we can help youdo your research.
(28:15):
Um, we can, we can helpintroduce you to attorneys, we
can help introduce you tomanagers and, you know, really
just help put your team together, frankly, um, help create
opportunities for you.
You know, we have, um, ourindie page, where we feature new
artists.
We have our music Mondayplaylist, where we feature new
artists.
We have our indie page, wherewe feature new artists.
We have our Music Mondayplaylist, where we feature new
artists.
We have we'll do Instagramtakeovers.
We have our stages, which Ialluded to earlier, like at
(28:35):
Lollapalooza and Austin CityLimits.
We have we do things at Southby Southwest.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
And also the artist showcases which you're having,
one tonight which I'm going togo to?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yes, we are.
We do something called theAcoustic Lounge.
We do that on a monthly basiswhere we have it's sort of like
a storytelling acoustic night,sort of like Bluebird Cafe style
, very Nashville, where we havetwo writers perform in a round
and talk about their songs andthen they play their songs.
(29:05):
So it's always a great night ofmusic, and so we do all those
types of things here, and sofrom that A&R publicity, I guess
moving on.
So there's A&R there'spublishing, there's management.
I feel like we are eventplanners, and that goes back to
some of the things I was justtouching on, from our showcases
(29:27):
to our services, like our newMusic Monday playlist, our
acoustic lounge.
So the big thing is, I feel likewe are administrative and
education executives, and what Imean by that is, from an
administrative standpoint, wewant to make sure that a writer
(29:48):
gets signed up with BMI, theyget their publishing company set
up, they get their worksregistered, they're signed up
for BMI Live All of these really, really important things.
Because if those things don'tget done, you're not that, you
get paid, you're performingrights, royalties and your songs
are played on radio, tv, dspsand live performances.
(30:14):
So we want to help you get allthat set up and explain to you
what it all means as well.
Right, and so we also speak onpanels a lot, we speak at
conferences, we educate thecommunity at large about what we
do at BMI.
So that's, believe it or not, aquick way to explain what we do
.
It's amazing.
That's the way I sort of liketo explain it.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I, like you, have five jobs.
This is why we want to businesspeople in the world.
It's amazing what you guys do.
You're incredibly helpful andalways a resource.
I mean whenever possible, whenyou have the time, I love
sitting down with you andgetting some ideas about what
I'm working on and who I'mworking with, and you've always
got so many suggestions andideas of who I should talk to or
(30:59):
whatever, and it's anincredible resource.
You are an incredible resource.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
We love doing it.
It's so much fun because whenyou make those connections and
then you see people go on tosucceed in those connections,
it's, it's rewarding, right, andit's sort of what keeps you
going and and it makes you go.
Okay, we are, we are valuableand we do, we do provide a
service and so so thank you forthat.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yes, I I'm, you know, always impressed with what you
do.
I just wonder if there'sanything that I missed asking
you, anything you wanted tomention.
There's so much to cover.
Yeah, I mean there's?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
oh gosh, there is.
I think we have probably talkedfor another hour.
If you let me right, I guesswhat I might mention is recently
we launched this new programcalled the Spark Program and
it's designed to help musiccreators really thrive
throughout every stage of theircareer.
That's where we offer exclusivedeals and special discounts on
(31:54):
different types of things, likein career development, lifestyle
and wellbeing and education,things like that.
So there's discounts for, like,band lab or Berkeley online or
co-signed or disco just makerson the website.
It had to be in my website,okay, yeah, on disco, disc
makers and that's on the website.
You had the BMI website.
Yeah, on our website, right,and I'm just excited about it
because we just launched it.
Really, it's something thatI've wanted us to do for a long
(32:16):
time and we have finally beenable to do it and it's really
exciting for me to talk about.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
I'll try to put it in a link at the bottom of the
interview.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Yeah, absolutely, we can definitely do that.
I'll get that link for you andI'll send it over.
Yeah, I would say that'sprobably it, and I just want to
really maybe just give someinspiring advice to songwriters
is just to never give up,because this industry is ever
changing and if someone tellsyou no, that person that tells
you no could be out of a jobtomorrow and they'll be a new
(32:46):
person in that position.
So to just just keep going andremember that we do this for the
love of music and that's really, yeah, what inspires me, what
inspires, I think, all of us,and why we're all here.
And so, if you ever get down oryou're feeling like you're
uninspired, go listen to yourfavorite album, go see a show.
(33:07):
I mean, that's, that's reallywhat excites me and keeps me
going.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
That's great, Wonderful advice, so wonderful
to have you, Sam.
I I'm looking forward tolistening to this back and and
seeing you tonight at theshowcase at the Acoustic Mound.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
It's going to be a fun night of great music and
it's at Pete's Candy Storetonight.
We moved to a new venue because, sadly, Rockwood Music Hall
closed down very, very sadly.
But we've been doing Pete'sCandy Store, which has been very
kind to us, and this is the Ithink the third time we're doing
it there.
So it's going to be a greatnight of music.
So if you hear this, come, comejoin us.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
I look forward to it.
Thank you so much, sam.
She creates noise.
I'd like to thank today'ssponsor, heard City, the premier
audio post-production companyservicing the advertising,
motion picture and televisionindustries right here in NYC.
I'd also like to thank Antello,aka XON, for singing the she
(34:03):
Creates Noise theme that I wroteThanks for listening to.
She Creates Noise.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe, rate and
share.
I want to thank the team hereBlair Reinle, jelena Stavanovic,
emily Wilson and the Master ofEngineering and Grammy-winning
Cooper Anderson.
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
She creates noise.
She creates noise.
We hear her voice she createsnoise.
We hear her voice she createsnoise.
She creates noise.
She creates noise.
We hear her voice, she createsnoise.
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