Anthem has named Gilles Godard President of Anthem Nashville Music Publishing. Godard, who previously held the global Senior Vice President of Publishing position, replaces Tim Wipperman who will be leaving the company at the end of the month.
“I am thrilled to announce Gilles as President of Anthem Music Publishing Nashville,” said Anthem Entertainment CEO Helen Murphy. “Gilles is a true creative at heart and he has spent the last several years working with me, the global business team, our talent, and society partners making him a great fit for the new role. I believe we have one of the best creative teams in all of country music and I am excited to see Gilles take Anthem Nashville Music Publishing to new heights. We all wish Tim well on his next adventure.”
Godard is an award-winning writer, producer, artist, publisher, and record industry maven. He joined Anthem in 2006 and has been instrumental in helping build the company’s publishing catalog. Gilles was instrumental in acquiring the Jody Williams catalog containing several Taylor Swift and Liz Rose copyrights that were recently re-released on the album “Fearless Taylor’s Version”. In 2021, Godard and the Nashville team oversaw Anthem’s catalog acquisition of country hits from songwriter Kelly Archer, who he initially signed in 2008. The catalog included her recent hits “After a Few” by Travis Denning, which reached #1 and set a new record by spending over 60-weeks on the US Billboard Country Airplay chart, and Platinum-certified charting hit singles “Somebody Else Will” by Justin Moore (#1), and “Sleep Without You” by Brett Young (#2). Under Godard’s leadership, legendary singer, guitarist and Anthem Records artist, José Feliciano released“Eagle When She Flies”, thefirst ever song collaboration between Feliciano and Dolly Parton in September of 2021, which was featured on the deluxe vinyl of the critically acclaimed album Behind This Guitar.
Godard remarked, “I am honored to be appointed President of Anthem Nashville Music Publishing and I look forward to working with our CEO Helen Murphy and our amazing team and roster of world class writers. I believe that our job as publishers is to provide the best opportunities for our writers and to ensure that the hits they write are heard around the world. As I like to say, the future always exceeds the past, and here’s to a great future!”
