Sesac to honor music executive Jon Platt with special visionary award presented by Chuck D

SESAC, the nation’s most progressive performing rights organization, will celebrate the songwriters and publishers behind the most performed songs of the past year at the 2015 SESAC Pop Music Awards on Monday, May 4 at the historic New York Public Library. The awards ceremony honors those who have made pioneering contributions to music and will feature soon-to-be-announced performances from chart-topping artists.

Jon Platt, President, North America, for Warner/Chappell Music, will be honored with the distinguished “Visionary Award” for his leadership role, creative vision and notable achievements. Legendary hip-hop artist and Public Enemy founder Chuck D, who had originally encouraged Platt to make the move from DJ to the music business, will present Platt with the special award.

Called “Publishing’s Pied Piper” by The Hollywood Reporter, Platt has long been recognized as one of the most revered music executives. Since joining Warner/Chappell in 2012, he has been instrumental in attracting a wide range of new and established talent including Jay Z, Beyoncé, Roc Nation’s publishing roster, Mike WiLL Made It, and Aloe Blacc, while continuing to build relationships with songwriters such as Katy Perry, Nate Ruess, Michael Bublé, Barry Gibb and George Michael.

Prior to Warner/Chappell, Platt spent 17 years at EMI and during that time he signed Drake, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, Mary Mary and Snoop Dogg, among others, at the onset of their careers. Under Platt’s creative leadership, EMI was named Billboard’s Publisher of the Year for 12 consecutive years.

Platt joins other industry luminaries who have received this honor in past years such as Richard Gottehrer, co-founder and chief creative officer of The Orchard and Daniel Glass, founder of Glassnote Records.

The invitation-only, red carpet gala is one of the most popular music gatherings in the industry. Each year, the star-studded evening features special performances from some of entertainment’s top hit-makers and the honorees and attendees include some of the biggest names in music. Last year, pop sensation Charli XCX won the Songwriter of The Year and Song of the Year awards and American Authors, Rico Love and Hezekiah Walker were just a few of the elite talents who made guest appearances or performed.

Other special awards will be presented during the ceremony include Songwriter of the Year,Song of the Year and Publisher of the Year.

The SESAC Pop Music Awards are sponsored by City National Bank. Delta Air Lines is the official travel partner and The London NYC is the exclusive hotel partner.

Follow SESAC on Twitter: @sesac

ABOUT SESAC:

SESAC Performing Rights is a service organization founded in 1930 to serve both the creators of music and music users through music licensing and timely, efficient royalty collection and distribution. The most progressive music rights organization in the U.S., SESAC Performing Rights is the only PRO to pay monthly radio royalties and was the first among the PROs to pay for live performances to songwriters and publishers. SESAC Performing Rights is known for its diversified repertory that includes genres ranging from Adult Contemporary, Urban, Jazz, Rock, Americana, Contemporary Christian, Latin, Country, Gospel and Dance. SESAC Performing Rights represents an impressive gallery of artist catalogs including Kurt Cobain, Mariah Carey, Nikki Sixx, Zac Brown, Jerry Cantrell, Robert Johnson’s catalog including the legendary song, “Crossroads,” the classic hit “Unchained Melody,” Mumford & Sons, Jimmy Napes, Charli XCX, Disclosure, Paul Shaffer, RUSH, Bryan Michael Cox, the Avett Brothers, Lady Antebellum, Thompson Square and Swizz Beatz. SESAC also represents iconic songsmiths Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond. Additionally, SESAC has long represented the music on some of TV’s biggest shows including Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, Parenthood, Dateline NBC and Dr. Phil among many others.www.sesac.com. In addition, SESAC also owns Rumblefish, a leading music technology provider and a market leader in music micro-licensing, YouTube monetization and license verification.

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