Pictured: Red Door Music Group’s Gina Venier, Abbey Adams, and Rian Ball.
Music publishing veteran Abbey Adams has teamed with Red Light Management to launch boutique music publishing company Red Door Music Group, in a joint venture partnership with Warner Chappell Music Publishing.
Red Door Music Group operates as a publishing arm for major music management company Red Light Management, and is based in Red Light Management’s Nashville office.
Adams’ career path includes over a decade at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which she joined in 2006, and rose to the role of Sr. Director, Creative in 2015. Along the way, she pitched and placed several hits, and had cuts by artists including Keith Urban (“You Gonna Fly” and “Raise ‘Em Up”), Billy Currington (“Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right”), Lady A (“I Run To You,” “Hello World”) and more songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley, Jake Owen, and more. She also placed songs in Grey’s Anatomy, Nashville, and the film Country Strong. In 2015, she teamed with Creative Nation’s Beth Laird to co-found Nurturing Outstanding Women (NOW), a mentoring organization for women in Nashville’s music industry. She then joined Centric Entertainment in 2017.
Adams says a conversation with longtime industry colleague, Red Light’s Shawn McSpadden, sparked the idea for Red Door.
“We first met when I had signed Joey Hyde at Sony/ATV. Joey got his deal at Universal and Shawn was managing him. Through that process we worked together a lot on songs and shows and his touring. Over time, we built that respect and trust that has to be your foundation for a team.
“Last year, I was looking at some options and told Shawn that I was interested in building a company,” Adams recalls. “He asked if I wanted to start a publishing company with Red Light and Warner Chappell.”
Red Door’s first two signings include new artist Gina Venier and writer-producer Rian Ball. The two signings reflect Adams’ and McSpadden’s shared philosophy of focusing on serving a small roster as a boutique company.
“We’ve never really been a publishing entity. As the company grew, we realized one missing part of this was to have a boutique entity that we could develop talent through,” says McSpadden. “And we can sign some writers to put with our various artists and managers. As managers, we are in the middle of a lot of the creative process on these records. They involve us from an A&R standpoint because we’re so closely tied so we thought if we can put together the right boutique company, it could be powerful. It feeds in to what we are already doing at Red Light and is a sister company.”
Adams met Ball through ASCAP’s GPS program, and brought him to Red Door as the publisher’s first signing. The multi-genre writer-producer has had several independent releases, working in pop, hip-hop and more recently, country.
“I love the opportunity he has with Red Light and Warner Chappell and those connections outside of Nashville,” Adams says.
Illinois-native Venier has released a batch of songs including “50 Bucks,” followed by “Good For You.”
“The way she approaches her songwriting and artistry, she has this swagger that is undeniable,” Adams says. “’Good For You’ is a fun vibe, but it’s also very personal and it shows more depth writing-wise. With each release, we go a little deeper into her story.”
Currently, the Red Door Music Group team is focused on building a small, solid writer roster, though the support from Warner Chappell also means catalog acquisitions could be an option in the future.
“The opportunity to work with an industry veteran like Abbey and to think about a company that sits between the largest management company in country music and the leading publishing company in country music, and the opportunities that could be there for those writers seemed like a complete no-brainer,” says Warner Chappell Music Nashville President/CEO Ben Vaughn.” Abbey’s the key because she has such a long and successful history in music publishing. Red Door is a very attractive destination for songwriters.”
“It’s been great working with Red Light and Warner Chappell through this process. They are champions. Creatively, Ben is a great partner,” Adams adds. “When these songs came up and we were ready to share with DSPs, he helped make connections that I didn’t have, so when you have a team like that, it’s a huge benefit.”
