Nashville

For the fourth consecutive year, ASCAP presented the ASCAP Music Lounge at the Nashville Film Festival, hosting eight bands over two days at The Basement. Music industry leaders and film/TV music supervisors filled the room on April 23rd - 24th for sets from The Wild Feathers, Escondido and more.

While the afterglow of this year’s eighth annual ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO still burns, here’s a look back at some of the highlights, from lessons learned to great photo and video moments from the heart of it all in Hollywood.

Reknowned songwriter and legendary guitarist Phil Keaggy will be honored with the ASCAP Golden Note Award at the 35th Anniversary ASCAP Christian Music Awards, to be held on Monday, May 6th in Franklin, Tennessee.

ASCAP's official showcase at the 21st annual songwriter festival included Chris DeStefano, Katrina Elam, JT Harding and Matt Jenkins, and served as announcement of Elam's recent signing to ASCAP, as well as to Words And Music Administration for worldwide representation of her current catalog.

ASCAP will celebrate the 35th annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards on Monday, May 6th at The Franklin Theatre. The ASCAP Nashville creative team will present Most Performed Song awards to the writers and publishers of the most-played songs in Christian music, as well as recognize ASCAP's Christian Music Songwriter of the Year, Songwriter/Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Publisher of the Year.

From high-profile performances from ASCAP members Prince, Green Day and Justin Timberlake to a panoply of sponsored showcases, panel appearances and everything in-between, ASCAP music, reps and messages were out in full force at SXSW this year.

Music Row recently gathered to cheer the ASCAP songwriters behind three big #1s: Brady Paisley's "Southern Comfort Zone," co-written with Kelly Lovelace & Chris DuBois; Jason Aldean's "The Only Way I Know," by Ben Hayslip & David Lee Murphy; and The Band Perry's "Better Dig Two," by Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally & Trevor Rosen.

Grammy-winning ASCAP country superstar LeAnn Rimes performed songs from her upcoming CD release Spitfire at a recent BMG Chrysalis showcase. The album, set for an April 9th release on Curb and produced/co-written by Darrell Brown, is Rimes's first release of all-original material in six years.

ASCAP presented a performance and Q&A session with hit songwriters Josh Kear and Dan Wilson in Washington, DC. The event was designed to entertain and inform members of Congress and their staffs about the creative process of songwriting and the challenges facing songwriters in the digital world.

Steven Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Mick Jones & Lou Gramm of Foreigner, JD Souther, Holly Knight and Tony Hatch (PRS) will become the latest inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at the organization’s 44th annual Induction and Awards Dinner, to be held in June in New York City.

The CMA Triple Play Awards, which honor songwriters who pen three #1 hits in a 12-month period, were recently held in Nashville. Twelve songwriters received awards, including eight ASCAP members: Dierks Bentley, Ben Hayslip, Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley, Shane McAnally, Eric Paslay and Neil Thrasher.

Blue Sky Riders have taken flight with the release of their full-length debut, Finally Home. A who's who of music royalty, the group counts the iconic Kenny Loggins, Nashville hitmaker Georgia Middleman and award-winning songwriter Gary Burr in its ranks. We talked with them at Sundance about their newfound collaboration.

ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year Ben Hayslip, along with hit-makers Ben Glover, Josh Osborne and more, will be featured on “The ASCAP Songwriters Show,” an exclusive weekly radio show on Nashville's WSM "The Legend." The songwriters will perform live in the studio and tell the stories behind their biggest hits.