Clay Bradley, a member of a music royalty family who first came up through the executive ranks at BMI Nashville, is returning to the fold as the performing rights organization’s VP of creative. He assumes the role March 17, reporting to Alex Flores, BMI’s senior VP of creative.
Bradley steps into a position vacated by Jody Williams, who announced last fall that he would be exiting at the end of 2019 after serving in that role since 2006.
Bradley’s last stop was at Eclipse Music Group, where as founder-CEO he was developing young songwriters like Katie Pruitt, Kendell Marvel and Payton Smith for the last five years. Before that, he had a long career at BMI, joint the PRO right out of college in 1991. Returning in the years 2008-2015, he was assistant VP of what was then called BMI’s writer/publisher department and is credited with signing Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith and Casey Beathard.
The exec also held VP roles at Sony BMG Nashville and the MCA label and was a creative director for Acuff Rose Music.
He is a member of that Nashville Bradley family, with three relatives in the Country Music Hall of Fame: father Jerry Bradley (former head of RCA Nashville), grandfather Owen Bradley (Patsy Clines producer) and uncle Harold Bradley (a renowned studio musician).
“There is no better advocate for songwriters than Clay Bradley,” said Flores in a statement. “He has dedicated his career to fostering relationships with Nashville’s songwriting and publishing community and has a unique and innate ability to identify and nurture promising creative talent. I have no doubt that he will continue to build on the incredible success of our team in Nashville, and I am thrilled to welcome Clay home to BMI.”
“It is a tremendous honor for me to come back to BMI to represent the world’s greatest songwriters,” Bradley said. “My passion for this creative community is beyond compare, and I am grateful to return to a company I love having gained new knowledge, perspectives and experiences over the last five years.”