Legendary Artist Honored for Commitment to Recording Artists During 48th Annual Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards

Contact: Sophia Majlessi,
202-696-1832,
smajlessi@soundexchange.com;
Josh Goldman, 202-559-0558, jgoldman@soundexchange.com; both with SoundExchange
 
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- Legendary recording artist Pat Boone received the SoundExchange Fair Play Award yesterday during the 48th Annual Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards in recognition of his decades of support for music creators.

Photo: Michael Huppe, President and CEO of SoundExchange, left, and recording artist Pat Boone

The SoundExchange Fair Play Award was created to recognize the contributions of members of the entertainment community who fight in the public policy arena to protect music creators. It also honors those who stand alongside SoundExchange on behalf of the entire creative community.

"We are honored to present the SoundExchange Fair Play Award to Pat Boone for his efforts to help recognize the important value of musical creators of all generations, and for his tremendous body of work created over the past six decades. Pat Boone has played a key role as a champion for the fair and equal treatment of creators of music spanning all genres and eras," SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe said. "Pat Boone's efforts in support of music creators have helped raise awareness about the pressing need to reform our nation's antiquated copyright laws so artists and rights owners receive fair market value for their music wherever and whenever it's used."

"Like millions of other Americans, music creators are business owners and they deserve to get paid for their work," Boone said. "I will continue working with lawmakers and urge them to reform our copyright laws so music creators are not shortchanged by a system that fails to adequately reward creativity and entrepreneurship."

The Dove Awards took place on Tuesday, October 17 at Lipscomb University's Allen Arena in Nashville at 6:30 p.m. (CT). Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) will exclusively broadcast the awards show on Sunday, October 22, at 8 p.m. (CT).

About SoundExchange
SoundExchange works at the center of digital music, developing business solutions to benefit the entire music industry. The organization collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of more than 150,000 recording artists and master rights owners accounts and administers direct agreements on behalf of rights owners and licensees. To date, SoundExchange has paid out nearly $5 billion in royalties. In May 2017, SXWorks, a subsidiary of SoundExchange, acquired the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA). CMRRA represents music publishers and administers the majority of songs recorded, sold and broadcast in Canada. For more information, visit www.SoundExchange.com or www.facebook.com/soundexchange or www.cmrra.ca.

About Pat Boone
Pat Boone has been nominated for six GRAMMY® Awards and sold nearly 50 million records. He has had nearly 40 Top 40 hits throughout his career. According to Billboard, Pat Boone was the #2 artist from 1950-1959 and the #12 artist from 1955-2010. Boone still holds the Billboard record for spending 220 consecutive weeks on the charts with one or more songs each week. Between 1956 and 1963, Boone made some 54 chart appearances with hits including "Don't Forbid Me," "Love Letters in the Sand," and "April Love," all issued in 1957. He received the Golden Laurel Award, Top Male Musical Performance, for Mardi Gras, in 1958; Golden Laurel, Top New Male Personality, in 1958; and a Golden Globe for Television Achievement in 1959. In 2003, the Nashville Gospel Music Association inducted Boone into its Hall of Fame.