The Power 50: Heath Johns

Heath Johns spent a year with BMG Entertainment as an A&R Consultant before moving to Universal Music Publishing Group in 2003, earning the role of Director of A&R. Between 2003 and 2016, Johns worked on signings including Peking Duk, The Veronicas, Wolfmother, M-Phazes, Jet, Peking Duk and more. In January 2016, Johns joined BMG Australia to lead the newly formed business.

2019 was by no means small for BMG Australia. July saw the release of Smooth Big Cat from Dope Lemon - the solo moniker for Angus Stone - which hit #2 on the ARIA Albums Chart and #1 on the ARIA Vinyl Albums Chart. Lead single Hey You placed at #84 on the triple j Hottest 100.

Significantly, the company announced a joint venture with Wollongong independent label Farmer & The Owl deal in October, seeing BMG now work with artists like Hockey Dad, Bad//Dreems, Bec Sandridge and more. "Ben and Jeb have established Farmer & The Owl as one of the finest independent labels in Australia and built a genuinely inspiring roster of established and developing talent," said Johns at the time. "BMG is beyond excited to welcome F&O into our family of labels, and we look forward to amplifying their vision on a global level."

Publishing signings included Melbourne pop duo Client Liaison, while acts like Alison Wonderland, Illy and What So Not enjoyed their first full year with the company after signing in late 2018. BMG Australia went into 2020 strongly, with a publishing deal with Neil Finn in the works.

"It's a tie between signing a global record deal [with] Dope Lemon and driving a rental car from LA to Las Vegas to the final Fleetwood Mac show where Neil Finn would put pen to paper on a global publishing deal with BMG. The Dope Lemon moment was a clear sign that BMG Australia's bold recorded ambitions could attract the country's finest talent and deliver them a rare proposition, a fair and transparent deal where they make more money than the label coupled with a world-class global rollout. The Neil Finn publishing deal demonstrated that despite our relatively new presence in the local market, iconic songwriters can be confident in the knowledge that their songs are not only in safe but creative hands. BMG Australia does not do passive administration, we add meaningful value and everyone sees more synch!"