President/CEO, Sony/ATV Nashville

What do you see as the primary opportunities and challenges of the immediate future?
Our best opportunities always revolve around signing new, interesting and compelling writers and writer/artists. Challenges, on the other hand, generally fall under the heading of economics, whether we’re talking about competing for new talent, keeping existing talent or fighting to make sure writers’ works aren’t undervalued.

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What do you consider the most promising new revenue streams for publishing?
With more of our Nashville artists having crossover success in the pop world, we have also seen additional opportunities for both sync placements and brand relationships for our writer/artists. Our global sync team has developed a nimble and transparent system of communicating all creative opportunities not only to our Nashville sync folks but also to our A&R teams, resulting in more placements.

How is songwriting evolving in this sector?
Recently, I have begun to feel that the “diversity door” has swung open a little bit. By that, I mean that it feels like the town is ready for and welcoming of a wider, more diverse variety of artists and songs.

Several top Nashville acts began behind the scenes as writers. What’s involved in helping them make that transition?
We help songwriters “find their voice” as artists. We provide opportunity, a creative environment, relationships, encouragement and direction. When a young singer/songwriter is given an opportunity via a publishing deal, placed in a creative environment, introduced to other great songwriters, encouraged daily and then thoughtfully given direction, they will evolve into the artist they are meant to be.

How pricey does the bidding get for a hot songwriter right now? Have you closed a writer when bigger checks were offered elsewhere? If so, how?
Largely due to an influx of new players investing in the publishing space, prices have recently trended upward substantially. Songwriters are being forced to thoughtfully balance long-term, mutually beneficial, successful relationships with publishers they have worked with, against what sometimes amounts to more of a “dollars and cents” decision. It’s more often than not a complex decision-making process for them.

We have closed a number of new deals as well as extended existing deals, all of which were extremely competitive. Generally, when we prevail it’s primarily because the writer wants to be here. Lots of things contribute to that; our reputation, our relationships and a comfort level that we work diligently to maintain by engaging in the lives of our writers.