UMG Nashville Promotes Lori Christian, Tony Grotticelli, Annie Ortmeier

Universal Music Group (UMG) Nashville has announced three promotions within its marketing team: Lori Christian to Sr. Vice President, Media Marketing; Tony Grotticelli to Vice President, Digital Marketing; and Annie Ortmeier to Vice President, Marketing – Digital Accounts.

Christian has led the publicity department at UMG Nashville since the 2012 merger of EMI/Capitol and Universal Music Group. In her time at UMG Nashville, Christian has overseen the launches of over 100 projects including Chris Stapleton’s Grammy Award-winning, double Platinum-selling debut, Traveller, and his Grammy Award-winning follow-up album, From A Room: Volume 1; Keith Urban’s multi-Platinum-selling albums Ripcord and Fuse, plus his upcoming Graffiti U; and Luke Bryan’s record-breaking, award-winning albums Crash My Party, Kill the Lights, and his most-recent, What Makes You Country.

“Lori has been instrumental in helping craft our overall messaging and define narrative for our artists and their music,” says UMGN President Cindy Mabe. “She continues to re-define and imagine ways to expose our music and talent through some of the most impactful opportunities to connect and grow their audiences. Lori’s ability to visualize the big picture marketing strategy makes her an indispensable asset to our roster of artists and our entire company. I am so proud to work with her and her team and to watch her raise the bar on our overall marketing strategy as the Senior Vice President of Media Marketing.”

Grotticelli joined UMG Nashville in 2011 and has grown from overseeing social media, digital development and e-commerce to now, as VP, Digital Marketing, Grotticelli leads the UMGN digital marketing department along with merchandising, direct-to-consumer, business development and advertising.

Mabe shares, “Tony has proven to be one of the most well-rounded, forward-thinking and continuously evolving executives I have ever known. He leads at the forefront of business development, analytics, D2C, CRM and fan engagement, but always with an astute artist marketing vision. I am so proud to watch Tony grow and evolve his role by leading our fantastic digital marketing team into a new era of artist marketing.”

Ortmeier initially came to UMG Nashville in 2013 where she managed digital partner relationships including all domestic audio and video streaming services. Now as VP, Marketing – Digital Accounts, Ortmeier oversees streaming marketing strategy and analysis for all UMG Nashville artists across all streaming accounts globally.

“Annie is one of the brightest, most focused, and deliberate marketing strategists I have worked with,” says Mabe. “Her marketing knowledge base is wide and she has been a pioneer in building overall streaming strategy for UMG Nashville from the beginning of streaming as a direct correlation to both sales and marketing. Her clear focus and vision for the growth of this department is critical to our ability to grow our artists reach and distribution of music around the world. I’m so excited for how this expanded role will allow Annie to grow our musical influence around the world.”

UMG Nashville consists of Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Records Nashville, MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville. Combined rosters include Alan Jackson, Billy Currington, Brandon Lay, Brothers Osborne, Canaan Smith, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Clare Dunn, Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Eric Paslay, Gary Allan, George Strait, Jon Pardi, Jordan Davis, Josh Turner, Kacey Musgraves, Kassi Ashton, Keith Urban, Kip Moore, Lady Antebellum, Lauren Alaina, Little Big Town, Luke Bryan, Maddie & Tae, Mickey Guyton, Sam Hunt, Shania Twain, Sugarland, The Band Perry, Travis Denning, Tyminski and Vince Gill.