NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Mar 22, 2012) - The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) will honor revolutionary songwriter and composer Trent Reznor with the prestigious ASCAP Golden Note Award during its 29th Annual Pop Music Awards, April 18, 2012, at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. The invitation-only gala will also honor the top songwriters and publishers of ASCAP's most performed pop songs of 2011.
The ASCAP Golden Note Award is presented to songwriters, composers, and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones. Past recipients include Elton John, Quincy Jones, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Lionel Richie.
"As the creative genius behind the pioneering industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails and one of the most innovative and cutting-edge songwriter-composers of any genre, Trent Reznor continues to blaze trails into uncharted musical territory," said ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams. "We're thrilled to honor him with the prestigious Golden Note Award for his achievements in songwriting and his award-winning film scores."
As Nine Inch Nails (NIN), Reznor brought industrial music to the mainstream with his debut release, Pretty Hate Machine. Touring with a full backing band, Reznor was able to reach a wider alternative rock audience with his music. Industrial works soon became more accessible inspired by the genius of Reznor's melodic songs and lyrics. NIN's albums Broken, The Downward Spiral, and The Fragile broke the Top 20 on the Billboard charts, and set Reznor up to cross over into other genres such as metal, dance, and electronica. Singles "Wish" and "Happiness in Slavery" garnered Grammy awards for Best Metal Performance in 1992 and 1995, while "The Day the World Went Away" and "The Hand That Feeds" reached the #1 spot on the Hot 100. Reznor's successful endeavors in film scoring have further diversified his music career. His brooding soundtrack to David Fincher's The Social Network was recognized with the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Score in 2011. Fincher teamed up again with Reznor for this year's film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, another film score that saw Reznor nominated for numerous industry awards.
As previously announced, ASCAP will present legendary songwriter Carly Simon with its Founders Award at the Pop Music Awards, to honor her pioneering contributions to music and her work that will continue to inspire generations to come. The Pop Music Awards will also honor the songwriters and publishers of ASCAP's most performed pop songs of 2011. Top awards will be given to Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year and Publisher of the year, in addition to the presentation of the ASCAP Vanguard Award, which recognizes the impact of musical genres that help shape the future of American music.
The 29th Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards will kick-off the 7th Annual ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO, a three-day conference dedicated to songwriting and composing. The EXPO covers all genres of music and includes panels, workshops, master classes, keynotes, one-on-one sessions, song critiquing, networking events, product displays, state-of-the-art technology demonstrations, performances, and more. The EXPO will take place April 19-21, 2012, at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, in Los Angeles, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.ascap.com/eventsawards/events/expo/
About ASCAP
Established in 1914, ASCAP is the first and leading U.S. Performing Rights Organization (PRO) representing the world's largest repertory totaling over 8.5 million copyrighted musical works of every style and genre from more than 427,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members. ASCAP has representation arrangements with similar foreign organizations so that the ASCAP repertory is represented in nearly every country around the world where copyright law exists. ASCAP protects the rights of its members and foreign affiliates by licensing the public performances of their copyrighted works and distributing royalties based upon surveyed performances. ASCAP is the only American PRO owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com