{"id":48986,"date":"2025-10-13T15:06:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T15:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/13\/chappell-roan-advocates-for-songwriters-at-2025-sona-warrior-awards\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T15:06:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T15:06:33","slug":"chappell-roan-advocates-for-songwriters-at-2025-sona-warrior-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/13\/chappell-roan-advocates-for-songwriters-at-2025-sona-warrior-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Chappell Roan Advocates for Songwriters at 2025 SONA Warrior Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tSunday night\u2019s SONA Warrior Awards ceremony in Los Angeles wasn\u2019t only a celebration of songwriters and those who champion them, but also a call to action to better support what Chappell Roan<\/a> called the \u201cbackbone of the music industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMichelle Lewis, SONA\u2019s CEO, opened the event, held at the Skirball Cultural Center, by celebrating new initiatives supporting songwriters, while also calling out the scary times with the rise of artificial intelligence. \u201cIn writing, we have a phrase: show, don\u2019t tell. So we\u2019re going to show the best of human creativity, empathy, and purpose,\u201d Lewis said onstage. \u201cWe must value and safeguard it \u2014 along with the people who create it. We\u2019re going to let the songs ring out loud.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Lewis\u2019s remarks, cohosts Bonnie McKee<\/a> and Shane Stevens opened the show with a heartfelt duet of \u201cPink Pony Club\u201d in honor of Chappell Roan, one of the night\u2019s award recipients. Though Roan wasn\u2019t in attendance, her spirit was felt throughout the evening.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tJustin Tranter presented Roan, who sent in a video message accepting her award. She was celebrated for voicing the needs of songwriters, including better pay and access to affordable healthcare, during her Best New Artist Grammy speech earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSongwriters are the backbone of the music industry,\u201d Roan said in her video message accepting the trophy. \u201cThey deserve respect, fair pay, and access to affordable healthcare. There is a lot of change needed within the music industry and the whole world\u2026 Change does not come from accepting the status quo that exists right now, change comes from [challenging] it. We must be the blueprint for change. There are people in this room right now who have the power to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRoss Golan, host of the podcast And the Writer Is\u2026<\/em><\/a>, also made an impassioned call for songwriters to fight for their rights to publishing splits and not allow artists, managers, and others who didn\u2019t put pen to paper to take hard-fought credits and royalties. \u201cThe industry has learned to venerate copyrights in their income streams, but forgotten those who compose them, because we\u2019ve forgotten what our value is,\u201d said Golan. \u201cSongwriters, do not be afraid, because with each other and with our ethical collaborators, we can right this ship. Let\u2019s leave this community better than we found it, and protect your copyright at all costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n

\n\tOne of the night\u2019s standing ovations came when Paul Anka performed a personalized rendition of \u201cMy Way\u201d for Primary Wave CEO Larry Mestel, who, while accepting his award, took aim at Spotify \u2014 one of the event\u2019s sponsors \u2014 for what he described as a lack of support for songwriters. \u201cThere is no Spotify without songwriters. Shame on Spotify,\u201d he said. \u201cFuck Spotify and other DSPs for thinking it\u2019s okay to pay songwriters less than they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier in the night, Janelle Mon\u00e1e thanked Girls Make Beats founder Tiffany Miranda for \u201cchanging the face of music,\u201d sharing the story of one of Miranda\u2019s students\u2019 rise, before revealing the story was actually about herself. \u201cWhat Tiffany and her team have built is nothing short of revolutionary,\u201d Mon\u00e1e said. \u201cThrough education, mentorship, and access, they\u2019re helping girls not only find their will, but own their power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere in the night, Morgan Wade performed \u201cWilder Days\u201d for honoree Dina LaPolt, before welcoming Linda Perry<\/a> onstage for a surprise rendition of \u201cWhat\u2019s Up?\u201d for the music attorney. \u201cYou do so much advocating for songwriters. I don\u2019t do jack shit, and I\u2019m really inspired,\u201d Perry said onstage. \u201cI don\u2019t go anywhere. I hate going out\u2026 and only for you would I do this. I just want you to know you\u2019re amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n

\n\tAfter Perry, Rep. Jasmine Crockett took the stage and described LaPolt as someone always \u201con the side of justice.\u201d During her speech, the music attorney spoke passionately about changing laws around the use of lyrics as proof in the courtroom, declaring, \u201cArt is expression, not a confession,\u201d and later, about artist rights amid AI\u2019s rise and her push for the NO FAKES Act, which aims to protect artists\u2019 voices and likenesses from unauthorized AI use. \u201cWith AI, nobody has the right to take your voice or likeness and profit from it without you,\u201d LaPolt said. \u201cWe do not have a federal right of publicity. So this would be what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo end the night, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were celebrated with their Warrior Award after being introduced by Rep. Maxwell Frost, who highlighted the songwriting pair\u2019s deep discography. Frost spoke at length about the CREATE Art Act, aimed at establishing the first federal grant program to support artists directly. \u201cI was proud to join SONA in celebrating artists and advocating for songwriters. As a musician, this fight is personal because we need to make sure our country truly values its artists,\u201d Frost told Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cNo artist should have to go broke chasing their dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tJam and Lewis were joined by Aloe Blacc for a medley performance, closing out a night of celebration and advocacy for the most under-appreciated part of the music industry: songwriters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday night\u2019s SONA Warrior Awards ceremony in Los Angeles wasn\u2019t only a celebration of songwriters and those who champion them, but also a call…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":48987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}