PERFORMING RIGHTS
Clay Bradley
VP OF CREATIVE, NASHVILLE, BMI
BMI has experienced some shifts — streamlining staff and announcing a transition to a for-profit status in 2022 — and keeps notching wins for new and established songwriters, including chart-topper Morgan Wallen. Bradley was instrumental in launching BMI’s Parking Lot Party with Luke Combs last June. On the board of the BMI Foundation, he helped establish the
Dolly Parton Music Fund to finance the songwriting scholarship renamed for her. “I’m proud of how our team continues to find ways to support the growth of country music in Nashville by curating many different genre-crossing showcases and events like BMI’s Rooftop on the Row series and BMI Presents at The Bluebird Cafe,” Bradley says.
Shannan Hatch
SENIOR VP/HEAD OF NASHVILLE CREATIVE, SESAC
“My team and I helped a diverse set of SESAC affiliates have unprecedented success over the past year,” says Hatch, pointing to top hits co-written by SESAC writers including Walker Hayes’ “Fancy Like,” Jordan Davis’ “Buy Dirt,” Kane Brown’s “Like I Love Country Music” and Jon Pardi’s “Last Night Lonely.” Nashville signing and pop sensation GAYLE also broke through with her international hit “abcdefu.” SESAC songwriters amassed 19 2023 Grammy nominations across all genres, with country writers contributing to the more than 70 No. 1s that SESAC writers scored on Billboard charts in 2022.
Mike Sistad
VP OF NASHVILLE MEMBERSHIP, ASCAP
ASCAP is riding high after posting double-digit growth. “In March, we announced ASCAP’s financial revenue for 2022 rose by 14%, and I’m glad that we can deliver the benefit of the ASCAP team’s hard work directly to our Nashville writers and the rest of our members,” says Sistad. Current successes include singer-songwriters Chris Stapleton, Kelsea Ballerini, Brothers Osborne and
Carly Pearce. “It has also been so gratifying to bring in new members that we really believe in, like Nate Smith, Georgia Webster and Drake Milligan, and to see some of the writers that we supported in their early days, like Lainey Wilson and Jordan Davis, get the attention they deserve for their music.”
CONTRIBUTORS
CATHY APPLEFELD OLSON, JIM ASKER, NEFERTITI AUSTIN, KATIE BAIN, DAVE BROOKS, DEAN BUDNICK, JANINE COVENEY, ELIZABETH DILTS MARSHALL, THOM DUFFY, DEBORAH EVANS PRICE, ADRIENNE GAFFNEY, RAQUELLE HARRIS, LYNDSEY HAVENS, STEVE KNOPPER, ELIAS LEIGHT, HERAN MAMO, TAYLOR MIMS, MELINDA NEWMAN, JESSICA NICHOLSON, GLENN PEOPLES, RONDA RACHA PENRICE, KRISTIN ROBINSON, CRYSTAL SHEPEARD, ERIC SPITZNAGEL, JEWEL WICKER
METHODOLOGY
Nominations for Billboard’s executive lists open no less than 150 days in advance of publication, and a link is sent to press representatives by request before the nomination period. (Please email thom.duffy@billboard.com for inclusion on the email list for nomination links and for how to obtain an editorial calendar.) Billboard’s Country Power Players for 2023 were chosen by editors based on factors including, but not limited to, nominations by peers, colleagues and superiors, as well as music industry impact. That impact is measured by metrics including, but not limited to, chart, sales and streaming performance as measured by Luminate and social media impressions using data available as of April 13. Top lawyers and top business managers working in the country genre, previously recognized here, are now included in the respective lists dedicated to their professions.