Jed Hilly

Jed Hilly is the current Executive Director of the Americana Music Association. Hilly was formerly the vice-president of Digital Asset Management and Marketing Services at Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.

Hilly began his music career as a bass player in a band of which he was also the manager. He made a lot of contacts through managing and in 1991 found himself at Sony Records as a part-time inventory clerk. He was quickly promoted to the mailroom where he was quickly promoted again. In only three years he was promoted through the ranks to Director of Merchandising. In this position, Hilly was responsible for design, production, and distribution for various artists including Michael Jackson and Gloria Estefan. By 1997, Jed was Sony’s key executive responsible for superstar band Creed’s international marketing campaign and worldwide explosion. Following millions of units sold, he became a member of the corporate executive team and was asked to develop new business strategies for Sony’s Digital Asset Management Initiative. Serving as Corporate Vice President and Global Manager of Business-to-Business Applications, Jed conceived of and directed the development and deployment of Sony Music’s Media and Music Exchange (MMX) and worldwide Multilanguage B2B websites which not only improved and updated the conglomerates inter-company creative business flow, but also resulted in multi-million dollar cost savings for annual budgets and is still in use today.

Following the 9/11 disaster, Jed relocated his family to Nashville, Tennessee where he met Barbara Orbison, widow of singer Roy Orbison. As Vice President for Orbison Records, he steered numerous initiatives to remind the public of the legendary artist. Jed coordinated museum exhibits and helped to produce the American Music Master Series at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; oversaw the campaign to encourage the US Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp to honor Roy Orbison; and initiated numerous other projects and re-releases of the Orbison catalog that resulted in tripling sales over previous years.

In the spring of 2007, Jed accepted the position as Executive Director of the Americana Music Association, whose mission is to foster growth of Americana music. During his tenure, expansion has been evident such as the Recording Academy’s decision (2010) to add the Americana Category to its list of Grammy Awards and in 2011, Merriam-Webster to added the word, Americana, as a musical term, to its prestigious Collegiate Dictionary.

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