BMI and Frances Preston

A predecessor to ASCAP and SESAC, the first performing rights organization to open a Nashville office was BMI, which stands for Broadcast Music Incorporated. BMI was founded in Chicago in 1939, and by 1941, 660 of America’s 800 radio stations were working with the company. During a time when country music struggled to find respect in the broader music business, BMI welcomed country music artists and publishers. In 1953, BMI orchestrated their first country music awards, and in 1958, they tapped Frances Williams (married name, Frances Williams Preston) to open a BMI office in Nashville. Her appointment was a big step for the country music industry and for southern women. Williams graduated from George Peabody College for Teachers, now part of Vanderbilt University. After working as a receptionist and talent for WSM radio, which broadcasts the Grand Ole Opry and television station WSM-TV, she was tapped to serve as BMI’s Southern representative. She quickly signed many country artists to contracts. In 1964, Preston was promoted to vice president, which some sources contend made her the first female corporate executive in Tennessee. Preston later became the CEO of BMI. 

Preston advocated for the construction of a BMI office in Nashville, and in 1964, the building on Music Row was completed. BMI assisted singers and songwriters with licensing and collecting royalties. Preston helped musicians and publishers on Music Row and was known to give advances of royalties to struggling musicians. She was fondly called “the songwriters guardian angel,” by Kris Kristofferson. BMI is part of a Music Row triumvirate of performance rights organizations along with ASCAP and SESAC. In 1995, BMI constructed this new 230,000 sq. ft. building in front of their existing building and moved their corporate offices from New York City to Nashville.

Over the years, BMI has worked with huge stars from all musical genres including: Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, John Lennon, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Keith Urban, and Carrie Underwood. In 2017, BMI joined forces with ASCAP to create a single, comprehensive database of musical works to provide a master index of ownership shares in the United States and to further protect the artists that make Nashville “Music City.”

Your final tour stop, Spence Manor and the Webb Pierce Guitar Swimming Pool, is directly across the street from this stop. Feel free to cross over for a closer look, through the fence, before heading back to the starting point of the tour—Owen Bradley Park.