Ginny Johnson
General Manager – Creative Director
Company: Notting Hill Music (Nashville)
Website: nottinghillmusic.com/notting-hill-nashville
At MCA Music, Capitol Records and Hamstein Music, Ginny Johnson placed songs with Country Music’s most notable artists like Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson. Now assuming the General Manager position of Notting Hill’s newly opened Nashville Office, Johnson brings her expertise to the U.K.-based company as they set up shop in red hot Music City.
What is Notting Hill’s overall strategy?
The company’s reach is all around the world. For an independent publisher, Notting Hill is unique. I wanted to be able to work with a lot of different formats. Nashville has changed a great deal in the past five or 10 years and so many people have moved here from other genres of music. We’re breaking all kinds of artists, not just country. What we decided to do with this division––unlike a lot of the other country formatted independents in town––was to sign writers who were like chameleons, and could write for all the different formats.
Who are some of your key writers?
Brad Crisler, who spends time in Europe and Los Angeles, as does Will Robinson who speaks four languages, and is constantly in Los Angeles, London and Miami where he writes with Latin producers. Chris Cavanaugh is a young, established writer but also an artist currently on the Kip Moore tour. Leslie Satcher is Music City royalty––when her songs come in it’s like Christmas!
We’re trying to cover a lot of different bases. We want to bring writers from L.A. and London here. We do a lot of Writer Camps that bring together a lot of writers from all over the world. We had a big camp here with 30 writers and had great success. Notting Hill has about 110 writers signed worldwide.
How has Notting Hill adjusted to the new business climate?
Our philosophy is to get up every day and write songs for a purpose––we like having a reason. I think that’s important today. The role of going out and pitching songs to A&R, labels and producers is smaller––that access is not what it used to be. You have to be developing writer/artists and projects all over the world instead of pitching songs. Of course we still do that too. I’ve pitched this morning and we will continue to do that, but with the climate today you have to get involved directly with the artists.
How else is the culture of Notting Hill different from other Nashville publishers?
Notting Hill is a big company all over the world, but it has a family atmosphere. On a corporate level, I’m communicating with four or five people. I’ve worked for major companies and sometimes you can get consumed by meetings and you don’t spend as much time being creative. This company is all about being creative.
How else has Nashville changed musically since you began working in publishing?
Nashville has exploded with new venues, restaurants and clubs; every night of the week you can go see the most incredible writers perform. To me there is artful music and the music you have to get on the radio. It’s like two separate avenues. It’s fun to go out and hear both. It’s such a diverse group of talent here.
