ASCAP to Honor Diplo With Vanguard Award at 30th Annual Pop Music Awards

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Feb 28, 2013) -  The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) will honor Grammy-nominated musician, DJ and producer Diplo with the ASCAP Vanguard Award during its 30th annual Pop Music Awards. The invitation-only gala will take place on April 17th, 2013 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The awards ceremony will also celebrate the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP's most performed pop songs of 2012.

The ASCAP Vanguard Award recognizes the impact of musical genres that help shape the future of American music. Past ASCAP Vanguard Award honorees include The All-American Rejects, Arcade Fire, Band of Horses, Beastie Boys, Beck, Björk, Jack Johnson, The Killers, Modest Mouse and The Strokes.

Diplo commented: "I'm honored to receive the Vanguard Award from ASCAP. I've always been driven to work with artists and genres that are 'weird.' It's still amazing to me that those ideas have translated into something larger than I imagined. I hope to continue this throughout the rest of my career."

Diplo (real name Wesley Pentz) is a Grammy-nominated producer known for his use of dancehall, dubstep, and baile funk. His 2004 debut album, Florida, received much praise from the underground community and caught the attention of then-new act M.I.A. Later that same year, the two partnered to release a mixtape (praised by The New York Times and Pitchfork Media as "Album of the Year"), further boosting Diplo's reputation as a musical trendspotter who brought global sounds from distant corners of the world to the eyes and ears of the blogosphere, and ultimately, to the dancefloor. Diplo continued to work with M.I.A. to create the Grammy-nominated track "Paper Planes," which hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold more than 3 million copies. In 2006, Diplo founded record label Mad Decent to serve as a showcasing, which has since released music from a dynamic range of artists, including Baauer, Santigold, Peter Bjorn & John, Rusko, Lil' Jon, Gucci Mane, Dillon Francis and more. Mad Decent's early release of Brazilian group Bonde do Role helped define the genre of baile funk in America. Presently, Diplo continues to secure credits with big names like Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Beyonce, Shakira, Lil Wayne, No Doubt, Bruno Mars, Azealia Banks, Robyn, Usher and Snoop Dogg. Additional collaboration and remix credits include Tiesto, Skrillex, Beck, Radiohead, Laidback Luke, La Roux, Kelly Rowland, Britney Spears, Sleigh Bells and T.I., among others. Diplo also has a successful project called Major Lazer -- best-known for its hit single "Pon de Floor" -- which is scheduled to release a new album in April. In 2012, Diplo released 128 Beats Per Minute, a book that illustrates the cultures and scenes from his daily global journeys.

ASCAP will also honor the songwriters and publishers of the most performed songs of 2012 at the ceremony. Top awards will be given out for Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year and Publisher of the Year. As was previously announced, iconic Aerosmith rock stars Steven Tyler and Joe Perry will receive the prestigious ASCAP Founders Award at the ceremony.

Member of the press can request event credentials by visiting www.ascap.com/press/pressroom.

The 30th annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards will kick-off the 8th annual ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO, a three-day conference dedicated to songwriting and composing. The EXPO will take place April 18th-20th, 2013 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel, in Los Angeles, CA. Earlier this week, initial EXPO panelists and programming were announced, including a Keynote Conversation between Lionel Richie and Ne-Yo, a Keynote Interview with Steven Tyler and a Master Session with Diplo. For more details, please visit www.ascap.com/expo.

About ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business -- from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With over 450,000 members representing more than 8.5 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com