For 50 years, Anya Wilson has helped mould the substance of publicity and radio promotion for the music industry. Originally based in London, England, Anya began ‘The Acme Plug Co’ in the late 1960’s representing such artists as the late Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, T-Rex, The Kinks, The Who, The Stranglers, The Jam, and Sir Paul McCartney.

In the late ‘70’s, Anya relocated to Toronto, Ontario where she became the National Promotion Manager for Cachet Records, where much to her delight her duties included working with country legend Johnny Cash.

“Coming from the field of rock music, it gave me great pleasure to apply a ‘rock’ style of promotion to the country artists that I worked with. We all found it worked incredibly well.”

Anya stayed with ‘Cachet’ until 1980 when she began Anya Wilson Promotion & Publicity. Since its inception, her company has been representing Canada’s top record labels and independent artists. The company also received the prestigious Canadian Music Industry Award for promotion and publicity in 1997. In 1996 Anya created the curriculum for a course in Entertainment Public Relations/Communications at Trebas Institute in Toronto and taught there until 2001.

During this time Anya has worked extensively with the CCMA since its inception. She developed and executed the initial media plans for the show the very first time it was televised (in Winnipeg) and continued this work for several years. She began the radio committee which was extremely instrumental in promoting the show and bringing a ‘radio presence’ to Country Music Week.

From 1985 – 1989 Anya wrote the “Home and Abroad” international column for Country Music News, and from 1985 – 1989 she was the Country Music Editor for the trade paper The Record.

Later on, when Anya became PR Advisory for The Nashville Network, she was instrumental in bringing the network on board in support of the CCMA’s. This relationship lasted many years and resulted in strong support for the show in Canada and the United States.

Anya was instrumental in the creation of the first board of directors for the newly formed Country Music Association of Ontario in 2008 where she served as Vice President. “Ontario badly needed a body of knowledge and support for both its established and emerging artists. I felt this was long overdue and was passionate about working towards its formation. Looking at it now, I couldn’t be more proud of what it has become.”

For over 35 years Anya has had much experience with various boards of directors and is well versed in board protocol.

Anya’s knowledge and dedication to the industry have made her one of Canada’s premier radio promotion and publicity agencies. Among her current clients and projects are George Canyon, Dallas Smith, Aaron Pritchett, Emerson Drive, PETRIC, Pearl Records, Broken Bow Records, including Lindsay Ell, Dustin Lynch, and Jason Aldean.

Talks

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