Warner/Chappell Music (WCM), the music publishing arm of Warner Music Group, has been named 2016 Music Publisher of the Year, as announced at last night’s 33rd annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards. In addition, Ryan McMahon and Benjamin Berger of WCM songwriting trio Captain Cuts were honored with the “Song of the Year” award for co-writing Walk the Moon’s smash hit “Shut Up and Dance,” while WCM songwriters picked up 22 “Most Performed Song of the Year” awards. WCM was also named Publisher of the Year in 2014 at the 31st annual ascap Pop Music Awards, as well as at the 2015 ASCAPCountry Music Awards (for the third year in a row) and the 2015 ascap Latin Music Awards.”Warner/Chappell songwriters defined the sound of 2015’s most popular music,” said Jon Platt, CEO, Warner/Chappell Music. “What is most rewarding is that our biggest songs were born in all corners of the globe, which speaks volumes about our writers’ ability to craft music with truly universal appeal.
Our winners ranged from Ali Payami in Sweden and Belly in Canada, to Vance Joy in Australia and Captain Cuts here in the U.S., alongside Grammy-winning superstars such as Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars. Congratulations to each of our amazingly gifted songwriters, as well as our relentlessly hard-working Warner/Chappell staff around the world. And our deepest thanks to ascap for the prestigious honor of Publisher of the Year.”In 2012, Warner/Chappell was named ASCAP’s Music Publisher of the Year for the first time in more than a decade, and the company has now received this prestigious honor in three out of the last five years.
Following is the complete list of “Most Performed Song Awards” presented to WCM songwriters last night by ASCAP:”Bad Blood,” co-written by Kendrick Lamar”Can’t Feel My Face,” co-written by Ali Payami”Centuries,” co-written by Suzanne Vega”Cool for the Summer,” co-written by Ali Payami”Earned It,” co-written by Ahmad Balshe AKA Belly”GDFR,” co-written by Mike Caren, Andrew Cedar & Justin Franks”Heartbeat Song,” co-written by Audra Mae • “Here,” co-written by Robert Gerongco”Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” co-written by Justin Weaver”Love Me Harder,” co-written by Ahmad Balshe AKA Belly & Ali Payami”Love Me Like You Do,” co-written by Tove Lo, Ali Payami & Ilya”Riptide,” co-written by James Keogh AKA Vance Joy”See You Again,” co-written by Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks, Dann Hume, Josh Hardy & Phoebe Cockburn”Shut Up and Dance,” co-written by Ryan McMahon & Benjamin Berger of Captain Cuts”Somebody,” co-written by Joe Khajadourian & Alex Schwartz”Style,” co-written by Ali Payami”Talking Body,” co-written by Ludvig Soderberg, Jakob Jerlstrom & Tove Lo”The Hills,” co-written by Ahmad Balshe AKA Belly & Emmanuel Nickerson”Uptown Funk,” co-written by Bruno Mars”What Do You Mean?” co-written by Mason Levy”Want to Want Me,” co-written by Sam Martin”Worth It,” co-written by Priscilla Renea
