Dave Stewart presented a Warrior Award last night in Los Angeles to Thomas Scherer who has spent nearly 30 years at BMG

Dave Stewart last night presented a Warrior Award to Thomas Scherer last night in Los Angeles.

Known as the most ‘songwriter-ly’ night of the year the SONA Warrior Awards celebrate music and the people who create it, mirroring SONA’s mission to be an authentic, inclusive community that brings together passionate creatives, as well as songwriter advocates and allies.

Michelle Lewis, SONA’s CEO said, “We created the Warrior Award to honour and thank those starlit humans who use their platforms to speak up and speak out for songwriters. We call our honorees ‘Warriors’ — these incredible artists, executives, activists and of course songwriters — to echo what one of our greatest living American songwriters, Paul Williams, calls songwriter advocates: warriors for the light. We hope it is meaningful for those being honoured to know that these awards are not given for charts or numbers and that the only measure we use is gratitude for the often thankless and unseen work they’ve done.”

Thomas Scherer has been with BMG and its parent company Bertelsmann for almost three decades as an artist, songwriter, music publisher, music producer, label owner, and executive. Under his leadership, BMG has signed and re-signed writers in the US, among them Diane Warren, Bebe Rexha, and Lewis Capaldi, and has secured more than 50 acquisitions, among them Mötley Crüe, Paul Simon, Five Finger Death Punch, and Gucci Mane. In January, Scherer was appointed President of Global Catalog Recordings, while retaining his responsibilities as President of Music Publishing in North America.

Scherer said, “Receiving the SONA Warrior Award is a profound honour, recognizing not just our work with songwriters but the power of their songs to uplift and inspire. I am proud to be in good partnership with SONA’s previous notable honorees.”

Songwriters of North America is an open and diverse community which unites enthusiastic music creators and thoughtful business leaders to redefine the music business in the 21st century. SONA creates a unified voice to protect artistic expression, compensation, and the rights of songwriters in North America.

Variety Magazine also covered the event and commented on Dave's speech:

"In an entertaining speech, the Eurythmics co-founder said, “He is someone who listens rather than someone who is impatiently waiting to say his piece. And when he does speak it’s truthful, unifying, kind and useful – a bit like Oogway from ‘Kung Fu Panda.'”

He continued, “Everything Thomas and I discussed during my tenure got done, (including) building an app that allowed writers to see their income in a fair transparent way. The artists we loved and talked about slowly had their songs became part of BMG’s huge catalog. Thomas became a juggernaut, an unstoppable force bringing writers together to collaborate in meaningful ways.”"