Del R. Bryant is President of Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®), the American performing rights organization. Bryant was President and Chief Executive Officer of BMI from August 2004 to September 15, 2013, and is responsible for leading the Company into its position as the premier global music rights management organization. In Bryant’s current role as President of BMI, he continues to lead the Company in its commitment to serving creativity and valuing music for the benefit of all songwriters, composers, publishers and licensees.
Bryant is the son of legendary songwriters and publishers Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who were the first two professional songwriters in Nashville and penned such classics as “Bye, Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” “Love Hurts,” and the Tennessee state song, “Rocky Top.” This rich musical heritage inspired Bryant’s accomplishments and passion for the business, along with his incredible song sense, an intuitive understanding for the creative process of the songwriter and composer, and a deep understanding of how the writer fits into the creative matrix of the music business.
He joined BMI in Nashville in 1972 and worked in many areas of the Company over the next 32 years, rising to Executive Vice President of Repertoire and Licensing before being named President and CEO in August 2004. Today, BMI represents more than 600,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 8.5 million musical works, and distributed more than $814 million in royalties for its 2013 fiscal year.
In more than four decades of service at BMI, Bryant has become well known as one of the Company’s most talented team builders. He has developed close working collaborations across departmental lines within BMI, and between writers and publishers and leaders of the music business. Perhaps his most important and successful long-term collaboration was that with the late Frances W. Preston, BMI’s former President & CEO. Bryant has played the leading role in re-engineering and modernizing BMI’s royalty distribution system. He directed the implementation of the structure introduced in 1987 as part of an aggressive writer acquisition campaign that included major components in marketing, advertising and industry media relations and events. It marked a sharp turn-around at BMI and attracted many of the best new writers across key genres of music, resulting in substantial increases in market share.
Bryant’s comprehensive approach to building the BMI repertoire has included initiatives in every major genre of music. Under his direction, BMI’s Film & Television department in Los Angeles was revitalized, leading the Company to a predominant position in the representation of Hollywood’s leading composers. Bryant directed the establishment of a Latin music division, a first among American performing rights organizations. These initiatives created a leadership presence that has enabled BMI to effectively represent the surging Latin creative community. Bryant also led the Company’s effort in establishing an R&B/hip-hop music division, headquartered in Atlanta, paving the way for a genre that has now become a powerhouse category in the BMI repertoire.
It is Bryant’s rare combination of musical sensibility, business acumen and social agility that has enabled BMI to acquire some of the industry’s most capable and sought-after executives. His collaboration with these executives has in turn made possible BMI’s continuous acquisition of many of the top songwriter/artists of today, including Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, Pink, Lady Gaga, Casting Crowns, will.i.am, Adele, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, the Black Keys, Jack White, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Pitbull, the Lumineers, Shakira, Don Omar, Florida Georgia Line, Fun., the Band Perry, Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean.
Bryant is past Chairman of the Board of FastTrack and is a member of the Board of Directors of BMI, CISAC, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Broadcasters Foundation of America. He is based in BMI’s New York City’s headquarters and is widely recognized and respected as one of the most influential leaders in the industry.