St. Vincent, Betty Who, Charlotte Caffey, Jojo, Priscilla Renea And A Dozen More Hitmakers Added To 2018 ASCAP "I Create Music" Expo Lineup; May 7-9 At The Loews Hollywood Hotel

Stars Join Multi-Platinum Recording Artists Meghan Trainor And Jason Mraz, Songwriters Hall Of Famers Desmond Child And Paul Williams, Jazz Legend Marcus Miller, Grammy-Winner Marc Cohn And More

NEW YORK, March 19, 2018 -- ASCAP adds over a dozen chart-topping music creators to the 2018 “I Create Music” EXPO lineup, including GRAMMY-winning musician St. Vincent. These new additions infuse this year’s lineup with some of today’s leading hitmakers from across the worlds of rock, pop, country, hip-hop, electronic and Latin. The additions combine the expertise of recording artists JoJo, Betty Who, Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Go’s), Anna Waronker (That Dog) and St. Vincent with songwriting teams like The Futuristics and executive Peter Asher with chart-topping producers Needlz and Tuo. Engineer Marcella Araica will join “Masterminds Behind the Boards,” and artist/songwriter Adam Sanders will discuss how ASCAP helped him go from playing dive bars to writing his first #1 single. Other newly added songwriting talent includes multi-genre standout Priscilla Renea; Greg Wells, whose work has sold over 85 million copies to date; J Kash, Spotify’s reigning Secret Genius of the Year and Leland, a music professor turned go-to pop collaborator.

Registration is now open for this year’s EXPO, to be held Monday, May 7 through Wednesday, May 9 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. To register please visit: www.ascap.com/exporegister

St. Vincent – after winning her first Grammy in 2015, as well as ASCAP’s Vanguard Award the same year, the indie icon returned with her fifth album MASSEDUCTION last fall, which earned her highest-ever debut on the Billboard 200 and was named the #1 record of 2017 by Jon Pareles of The New York Times.

Marcella Araica – the groundbreaking engineer has mixed and recorded tracks for Britney Spears, Pink, DJ Khaled, Timbaland and Mariah Carey.

Peter Asher – a two-time Grammy Producer of The Year who was head of A&R for The Beatles’ Apple Records and a chart-topping musician in the 60s pop duo Peter & Gordon.  

Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go’s and her sister-in-law Anna Waronker of That Dog - collaborated on the Clueless theme song “Ordinary Girl,” founded their own label Five Foot Two Records and wrote “Lovelace: A Rock Musical,” an LA Times Critics’ Choice.

The Futuristics – the songwriting duo first gained notoriety writing the parody song “3-Way (Golden Rule)” for Saturday Night Live and have since gone on to write hits for Camila Cabello, Halsey, Flo Rida, 2 Chainz and G-Eazy.

JoJo – each of the pop star’s three studio albums have charted in the top ten of the Billboard 200, and as a teen sensation she scored a #1 on the Billboard Pop charts with “Leave (Get Out).” In 2016, JoJo released her first album in ten years, Mad Love, which debuted at #6 in the US.

J Kash – after penning some of the year’s biggest hits, including Charlie Puth’s “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” and the Jason Derulo, Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign collaboration “Swalla,” Kash was presented with Spotify’s top songwriting honor for 2017 – the Secret Genius of the Year.

Leland – a songwriting professor turned professional songwriter, Leland’s first credits came from his work with Troye Sivan and Daya in 2015. He has also written with Kelsea Ballerini, Selena Gomez and Martin Garrix.

Needlz – a leading hip-hop producer for nearly two decades, he has worked with Drake, Bruno Mars, 50 Cent, Lupe Fiasco, The Game, Rakim, Talib Kweli and Busta Rhymes.

Priscilla Renea – the songwriter has worked with a wide range of artists including Rihanna, Miranda Lambert, Meek Mill, Madonna and Train. Renea has also lent her vocals to tracks by Big Sean, Diplo and B.o.B. Her song “Something Bad” is currently the theme to NBC’s Sunday Night Football coverage.

Adam Sanders – discovered by an ASCAP representative while playing the day shift in a small Nashville restaurant, Sanders has gone on to become one of country music’s most in-demand writers, scoring #1 hits for Cole Swindell and Dustin Lynch. As an artist, Sanders has toured with Luke Bryan and Eric Church, most recently releasing the single “Thankful For” in 2017. 

Tuo – as one half of Da Internz production team, he has worked with Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Ludacris, T-Pain, John Legend, Nas and Jennifer Lopez.

Greg Wells – a musician, producer and songwriter whose songs have sold more than 85 million units. Wells has worked with Katy Perry, Keith Urban, Adele and Twenty One Pilots.

Betty Who – her unique brand of synthpop earned the Australian singer three #1 hits on the US Dance charts in four years, including her double-Platinum version of the Donna Lewis-penned “I Love You Always Forever.”

The music creators above join previously announced panelists like multi-platinum recording artists Meghan Trainor and Jason Mraz, Grammy Award-winners Marc Cohn, Darrell Brown and Dan Wilson, multi-time ASCAP Latin Songwriter of The Year Claudia Brant, jazz legend Marcus Miller, Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Desmond Child and Paul Williams, rising pop star Billie Eilish and her close collaborator Finneas O’Connell.

Now in its 13th year, the ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO is the largest conference of its kind in the United States, attracting over 3,000 music creators for three days of panels, workshops, master classes, keynotes and one-on-one sessions with the industry’s top hitmakers. The 2017 “I Create Music” EXPO included nearly 200 panelists from across the music business covering dozens of compelling topics, from Congressional legislation benefiting songwriters to expanding the role of women in film music to a case study with the team behind Justin Bieber’s Purpose.

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 more than 650,000 members representing more than 11.5 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. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook.