The Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC) honored last year’s most accomplished songwriters and music publishers at its 2023 SESAC Music Awards in Hollywood, California, on Tuesday (Sept. 19).
During the ceremony, songwriter Daniel Loptain (a.k.a. Oneohtrix Point Never) and music publisher Songs of Downtown received recognition for their work on four songs by The Weeknd, namely “Out of Time,” “Is There Someone Else?” “How Do I Make You Love Me?” and “Best Friends.” These tracks are all part of The Weeknd’s 2022 album, Dawn FM.
Bryan-Michael Cox and AVEX USA Tunes were presented with a performance activity award for their work on Ari Lennox’s hit single “Pressure,” which reached No. 1 at R&B radio and Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart.
The certified gold song appears on Lennox’s sophomore album, age/sex/location, released in September 2022.
Cox, a decorated songwriter, producer, and newly-minted Love Renaissance (LVRN) executive, accepted the SESAC Music Awards’ Icon Award last year, having previously won Songwriter of the Year six times.
Emerging songwriter Vedo and Concord Music Publishing took home an honor for their work on Chris Brown’s “WE (Warm Embrace).”
The song, the lead single from Brown’s Grammy-nominated 2022 album, Breezy (Deluxe), has surpassed 29.3 million streams on Spotify.
DJ Dahi was honored as a songwriter for Steve Lacy’s “Mercury,” which appears on his second album, Gemini Rights. Sony Music Publishing, which is named Publisher of the Year, accepts the award on behalf of the song’s music publisher.
Other honorees include Harvey Mason. Jr, Malibu Babie, Richard Zastenker, Jimmy Napes and many more.
According to its official website, the SESAC ”represents songwriter’s and publisher’s copyrighted musical works and their right under the Copyright Law to publicly perform those works inside businesses.”
For more information about the SESAC, visit sesac.com.
