Originally published on September 16, 2005

Del Bryant

BMI
President & Chief Executive Officer

It is extremely difficult to take over a company when its former leader is a legend, but Del Bryant seems quite comfortable in his new role as President & CEO of BMI, replacing Frances Preston.

Bryant is a 34-year veteran of BMI, and art and commerce definitely meet on his desk. The son of songwriters, he knows firsthand the importance of his company's mission.

Getting into the business: "My folks were prominent songwriters. When I was born they'd just had their first song recorded, a ditty for Jimmy Dickens called 'Country Boy.' My brother and I were raised in the backstage environment of the Grand Ole Opry and various studios. At that time Nashville wasn't synonymous with songwriters. My parents are in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the National Songwriters Hall of Fame, and, more important, they're in the CMA Country Music Hall of Fame as the first professional songwriters in Nashville.

"I came up thinking everybody was a songwriter or a player, so I thought I'd grow up and be a songwriter. After getting out of school and a brief stint in the service I went to work for the family publishing company. My parents had a unique deal where most of their songs reverted to them. I was pitching 'Rocky Top,' 'Bye, Bye Love,' 'Wake Up Little Susie,' 'Love Hurts' and anything my folks were writing to the music community."

Joining BMI: "I was home with Mom and Dad one day, eating lunch, and they got a call from Frances Preston. Dad got on the phone and said, 'Phyllis, get on the other phone.' Mom went upstairs and got on the phone. After about a three-minute conversation Dad said, 'Frances, I'll call you back in a few minutes.' My mother walked down the stairs crying and said, 'I can't believe Frances wants to hire one of my boys, and she doesn't care which one.'

"Frances was an important person in the music community in Nashville. My folks knew her as the head of BMI and as a longtime friend. My father said, 'Frances Preston wants to hire one of you, and, as your mom just said, she doesn't care which one it is.' My brother had just gotten back from Vietnam, and the last thing he was looking for was structure. I was married, had one crawling and one on the way, so I said, 'I'm kind of interested. It might help me get my phone book worked out.' To my father, everything was about a phone book.

"Within three seconds I was on the phone, hired and told to be in the office in about four days. I showed up at BMI the next Monday. I joined an office that had 11 people and started answering the phone and talking to songwriters."

On becoming the head of BMI: "I can say on behalf of Frances that when I went to work at BMI in 1972 she had no idea that she would ever become President. We worked out of the Nashville office and had a home office in New York, and even though country music was important, it wasn't necessarily the hub of the wheel.

"We also had the east Memphis explosion, the classic blues of Memphis and Georgia and The Allman Brothers. We had Miami. We had a lot more than country, and you didn't sit around in Nashville thinking you would ever head a company based in New York."

How the company works: "We are a unique middleman. We clear the performance right. In order to perform music, you have to have the right to do so. It would be difficult for a user to license the rights to all the music he wanted from a diverse group of writers. The same is true for the creators of music: It would be difficult for them to go out and find everybody who wanted to use their music and negotiate the agreements. So we're the middleman between the creative component and the public that enjoys the music served by radio, TV, cable — all the entities that use music in their business.

"We came into being to provide an alternative source of music for the users and to do it at a competitive price. When BMI came into existence we sought out the talent and made it available to the user. We did this at a fair price and ensured that the creator was compensated. Our job is to make the right to perform a vast, diverse catalog of music available to those who wish to perform it easily and at a reasonable fee, through blanket licenses."

Long-term goals: "I want to keep growing this component of the songwriter's livelihood. Performing rights has always been one of the most important areas of income for songwriters. Having hits in the music business means performance income, so one of my goals has to be to increase the amount of income a writer can make on performances. That means aggressively mining the areas where that money comes from, both the broadcast community and more diverse areas, be it satellite, Internet, cable or foreign rights.

"The music coming out of the United States still drives entertainment around the world, and our income around the world has increased dramatically, but you have to be vigilant and make sure you are getting it."

Biggest challenge: "Making sure that we license the diverse list of users that find value in our services. The digital area has created tremendous challenges, but, if presented properly, the benefits of blanket licensing and the benefits of managing copyrights in the way we do can simplify a user's life. It's our challenge to continuously provide a service that's easy to use and to educate the user on the importance of conforming to the law.

"We also need to educate the public and, certainly, lawmakers about the importance of copyright and the importance of remuneration for the creators of copyrights. It's very easy for people to feel as though music is free. It's important that we continuously educate people that the high-profile artist isn't the only one out there. There are a tremendous number of writers, publishers, copyright owners and copyright creators who depend on our orderly system for their livelihood, and this orderly system, when functioning correctly, spawns creativity and works that bring income and global importance to these creative endeavors."

State of radio: "Coming from my background, radio was king. You had to get to it. And you still have to get to it. The approach to getting to radio today is very different from what it was when I was a kid. The corporate world sometimes doesn't seem as artist-friendly. When I say artist, I'm not speaking in terms of Eminem or Norah Jones, I'm speaking of art itself — the writers and other people who create intellectual property.

"It was a little more exciting when you could pull over, get some records out of the trunk and have a chance of getting somebody to play them because they liked them. It's the dream of every songwriter, BMI or otherwise, to get a song on the radio, and regardless of how corporate the industry is, if enough people hear that song on the radio, you can have a hit. It can really change your life to have that song played."

Something about BMI that might surprise our readers: "How dedicated the staff of BMI is to the creative process and how excited people in the various offices get when a songwriter walks in, whether it be a brand-new person with some success or an icon who only people at BMI know because he is a pure writer who doesn't necessarily have a big-name presence. People working at BMI love the business. Everyone feels like they're in show business."

Career highlight: "I'm proud that I work for a company that allows someone from a creative background to rise to this position. It speaks highly of our board that they value BMI and look at it as a creative force and weren't afraid to take a chance on somebody who came from a creative background.

"I had a rockabilly hit in the late '70s, after I had been in a coat and tie for BMI for years, and I received a Country BMI Award at the same dinner my father received one. Mine was for a song called 'I Cheated on a Good Woman's Love,' and my father's was for a recut version of 'All I Have to Do Is Dream' by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band."

Career disappointment: "There are a lot of little disappointments in every business. I wish it was easier to convince people who use music that there's a lot of value in it and that buying a BMI license, or even an ASCAP license, is the way to ensure that the creative people who wrote and published the works they are using get compensated."

Most influential individual: "Without a doubt, it would have to be my dad. He was a wonderful, gifted musician, a classically trained violinist. He is responsible for my wide and diverse tastes in music.

"And then, of course, Frances Preston. She has been an incredible mentor. I've met no one who is more politically savvy and who, almost more than songwriters themselves, realizes the value of a creative person. Few people have ever been so driven to work on behalf of creative people as she was. She was willing to turn any stone necessary to do the job better. I don't think there could have been anybody better to learn from."

Favorite radio format: "All BMI 24 hours a day, because you can find everything."

Favorite television show: "My wife enjoys certain soaps, and I swear she's gotten me into a couple that she TiVos. Other than that, I'm a Weather Channel freak."

Favorite song: "It would probably be something of my father's, like 'Love Hurts.' I love the classic British Invasion. I love The Zombies. I love The Rolling Stones' early stuff and The Beatles. If it was a country song, it would be 'You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille' or 'Ode to Billy Joe.'"

Favorite movie: "The Philadelphia Story or It's a Wonderful Life. My brother and I used to love to watch Johnny Weissmuller play Tarzan. Another favorite would be Marlene Dietrich and Ray Milland in Golden Earrings."

Favorite book: "A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Fountainhead."

Favorite restaurant: "It's always the next barbecue shack that I haven't eaten at. I'm a Q, as people who like barbecue call themselves."

Beverage of choice: "Water."

Hobbies: "I enjoy poetry readings. I write a lot. I enjoy reading. I've got a 16-month-old baby I enjoy. When I had my first children I didn't have time to watch them grow, and it's a lot of fun watching Thaddeus grow."

E-mail address: dbryant@bmi.com