My Music Row Story: SESAC’s Lydia Schultz Cahill

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Lydia Schultz Cahill

The “My Music Row Story” weekly column features notable members of the Nashville music industry selected by the MusicRow editorial team. These individuals serve in key roles that help advance and promote the success of our industry. This column spotlights the invaluable people that keep the wheels rolling and the music playing.

Lydia Schultz Cahill is Senior Director of Creative Services at SESAC PRO, where she oversees the country genre in Nashville. She supports songwriter and publisher affiliates, recruits new talent and collaborates with artists like Blanco Brown, Jon Nite, Allison Veltz Cruz, Dillon Carmichael and Jenny Tolman. Cahill also produces SESAC-sponsored events, including Tin Pan South, SESAC Presents at the Bluebird and songwriter showcases across the Southeast.

Before joining SESAC in 2016, Cahill was Creative Director at Magic Mustang Music, where she worked with acclaimed songwriters Steve Bogard, Kristian Bush, Rob Hatch and Justin Lantz. She began her career as an assistant to Grammy-winning songwriter JD Souther and later held roles in the Legal and Finance Department at Broken Bow Records. A Wisconsin native, Cahill graduated from Belmont University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from its Music Business program. In 2024, she completed her master’s degree in social work from the University of Tennessee.

Cahill will be honored as part of MusicRow‘s Rising Women on the Row class of 2025 on March 20 at the Omni Nashville Hotel. Read more about the event here.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

MusicRow: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a town called Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. It’s about 45 minutes north of Madison.

Tell me about that. What was childhood like?

People from the Midwest always know it because it’s the water park capital of America. Whenever I say I’m from Wisconsin Dells, people are like, “Oh my gosh, we went on vacation there.” It’s a small town with a beautiful river, known for having tons of water parks. People are always surprised that you can actually live there. It’s a sister city to Gatlinburg—similar, but on a river instead of a mountain.

My mom was in nursing, and my dad is a farmer. I grew up on a farm just outside of town, so my upbringing was more rural.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

How did music come into your life?

My mom’s mom always had music on. She had a radio and later got a CD player. No one in my family was particularly musical—my grandpa played guitar, but it wasn’t a big thing. We sang in church, but mostly it was country music.

We didn’t have many TV channels growing up—we had something called “The Farmer Five,” which was about five channels and none of them were that interesting to me as a kid. So, we just played outside a lot.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

After high school, did you know you wanted to do this?

No. I had a guidance counselor meeting where they asked if I was going to college. I didn’t really have a plan, just figured I’d go because my friends were going. I remember telling my dad, “I think I want to go to college,” and he said, “Does your mom know?” [Laughs] It just wasn’t something we talked about much.

A friend who was a songwriter went to Belmont and told me about the music business major. I was in Wisconsin for two and a half years, just partying and having fun, then transferred to Belmont because I loved music and figured I could get paid to sing songs.

I didn’t know artists like Reba McEntire didn’t write all her songs. I didn’t even know what a songwriter was. Belmont opened my eyes to the industry—publishing, song pluggers, the whole ecosystem supporting creative people.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

Tell me about Belmont.

I went from a public party school to a private liberal arts school, and it was a shock to my system. Wisconsinites just like to have a good time—beer, football—then I came to Belmont, and it was a totally different vibe.

I was a student loan kid, and when I got to Belmont, none of my friends had loans. That was eye-opening. It was an educational experience in every way—catching up academically but also realizing how much was on the line. My parents helped, but I was paying for it, and at one point, my loan doubled in a semester. I had to take it seriously.

Did you intern anywhere?

I did the BMI Catalog Cast internship, where we worked with publishers and learned about song plugging. It was an amazing way to understand publishing and the industry. I remember playing songs for Taylor Lindsey and Sara Knabe.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

I also interned with Kelly King, which was incredible. She included me in everything, and it was inspiring to see her champion artists like Brothers Osborne.

Sounds like you were pretty set on publishing at that point.

Yes! I’ve always loved creativity, and once I realized that the songs I loved weren’t necessarily written by the singers, I became fascinated by songwriters. They were the ones who made these songs happen, the ones who gave me something to connect to as a rural kid.

What happened after graduation?

I wanted to work in publishing so badly. I worked as an assistant to JD Souther for a few months, which was wild. He had high expectations.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

Then I interviewed for a song plugging job at Broken Bow, but Benny Brown noticed on my resume that I had taken copyright law, and made up a job for me in legal and finance instead. I worked in QuickBooks for a while and even wondered if I should be an accountant. Eventually, I moved into a song plugging role and did that for about three years and it was wonderful.

I loved working with songwriters, but I also wanted to engage with other sectors of the industry. When ET Brown at SESAC told me they were expanding the creative department, I jumped at the opportunity. It made so much sense to me—I could still work with songwriters, which is my absolute favorite population, as well as other sectors of the industry.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

When did you start at SESAC?

2016. I started as a country rep, getting familiar with our roster and building relationships. In 2020, I was promoted to senior director, which was a lot of the same work but at a higher level. It was a huge shift, but COVID actually made it more manageable—I could handle everything without constantly being in person. It gave me time to adjust.

What’s your favorite part of what you do now?

The one-on-one time with songwriters. Supporting them, giving them space to reflect—it’s an honor to be someone they trust to bounce ideas off of.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

What is something you’re most proud of?

So much of what I do at SESAC is making sure our songwriters are happy and truly taking care of them. Getting to be a part of their wins has always been really exciting. I’m proud of signing Chris LaCorte and Jon Nite—having people trust you and your company is truly humbling.

Something else I’m proud of is that I got my masters degree in mental health during the pandemic and have been working as a therapist on the side. I’ve really enjoyed getting to be a resource for other people, especially in the music industry.

Who have been your mentors along the way?

With the exception of JD, I have almost always worked for a woman. Kelly King was so amazing. Melissa Kramer at Broken Bow and Juli Griffith at Magic Mustang took great care of me. Shannan Hatch is far too young to be a mother figure to me, but she has nurtured me so much.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

What would you say is the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten?

Nobody is thinking about you as much as you’re thinking about you. It’s not that people don’t care about you, because people care about you. But you need to do what is best for you.

You will be honored next month at our Rising Women on the Row breakfast. In a few words, can you share about what your experience as a woman in the music industry has been like?

It’s so interesting because the gender disparity became so much more clear after I got married. Watching my husband’s work experience versus my work experience–specifically around finances—is very different. He might ask for something and just get it, whereas I’ve always felt like I needed to make a case for the things that I wanted to have financially.

Photo: Courtesy of Cahill

In the songwriting community, unfortunately, there are a lot fewer women. I work with so many men, just because there are more of them, so I really make an effort to prioritize working with other women.

What would you say to a college student reading this that wants to do what you do one day?

I would honestly tell her she’ll probably be my boss someday. Young people are so smart, and they have access to so much more information than we ever did. Statistically, I don’t think I should have made it to where I am–to be the first in my family to go to a four-year school and then be as successful as I’ve been. The cards were not in my favor, so I would tell her to work really hard and enjoy it.

LB Cantrell
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