Double win for Taylor Swift at BMI songwriter awards

Taylor Swift took out two awards at the 64^th BMI Pop Awards in Los Angeles, which honour the writers and publishers of the most performed songs in the past 12 months. 

The first was for her own inaugural Taylor Swift Award “in recognition of her incomparable creative and artistic talent and influence on music lovers throughout the world.” It was the first time in the association’s 76-year history it presented an award in an artist’s name, after Michael Jackson in 1990.

The win was announced earlier. BMI VP of Writer/Publisher Relations Barbara Cane said, "Taylor Swift has transformed pop culture through her songs, artistry and indomitable spirit.

"She has had a profound impact, not only musically, but also through her personal conviction and commitment to create a standard that values and respects music for everyone. We felt it appropriate to award Taylor with an honour that is as unique and special as she is."

The 26-year-old Taylor, who arrived at the event in a slinky velvet Monique Lhuillier, also won Pop Songwriter of the Year after Bad Blood, Blank Space, Style and Wildest Dreams. 

The honour comes a week after Billboard announced she was last year’s top earner, taking in US$73.5 million, most of it due to her 1989 world tour.

Meantime, while Swift was in Los Angeles accepting her BMI honour, her bodyguards had the day before, detained a 25-year-old man carrying a duffel bag outside her Tribeca, New York, apartment. They called the police, who said he was “acting disoriented” and “out of it”. The unidentified man is currently in hospital getting a psychiatric assessment. 

In other BMI wins, Uptown Funk was Pop Song of the Year. Sony/ATV was Pop Publisher of the Year, responsible for 23 of the year’s most-performed songs.

Given the Icon Award were Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, the team behind perennial hits as You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, On Broadway, Blame It On The Bossa Nova, We Gotta Get Out Of This Place and Just Once. An a Capella group performed a medley of their hits to mark the occasion.