photo by steed media service

Contrary to popular belief, Catherine Brewton cannot make you famous. Although she is vice president of Writer-Publisher Relations in the Atlanta office for Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), one of three major performance rights organizations in the U.S., and although she has been spotted with everyone from Lil Jon to the Indigo Girls, she’s not a golden ticket to superstardom.

“[People ask] ‘Can I get a publishing deal? Can you help me be famous,’ ” she says. “I tell them, ‘No I can’t, you don’t want to be famous, you want to earn a living, you want to be successful, not famous,’ and when I hear that, it’s troubling.”

Brewton assists BMI with collecting royalties and paying more than 375,000 songwriters who represent approximately 6.5 million songs, for their public performances.

Brewton will tell you she’s more focused on helping develop and nurture artists via events like the Unsigned Urban Showcase on April 24, than boosting her own prominence.

“I never got in this to be famous or to be rich, or get put on and marry some cute guy or rich guy. It [is] a business and I [take] every day I walk in to this office extremely serious,” she says. “People respect me not because I’m black or a woman, they respect me because they know I know what I’m talking about and I have conviction about everything I do.” -gavin philip godfrey

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