Bryan Bradley, the new CEO Americas at L-Acoustics, has a taste for long-term strategic thinking, which he categorises as a more European style of doing business. He contrasts this slower, more thoughtful approach with what he calls a “shoot-from-the-hip” American style. L-Acoustics, as a French company, fits the European mould.
“I find I really enjoy working for European companies. I understand the mentality. And I find I have a skill for matching a more American mentality to European strategy… Let’s be a little slower, a bit more thought out. And I think that’s why I’m here today,” he says. “Typically a European company like L-Acoustics really thinks about possible outcomes before launching a strategy. As it’s been well thought out, it tends to be well-executed.”
American companies, in his experience, tend to want to move faster, which can make them dynamically responsive to markets. “Sometimes the American way is best – shooting from the hip and adapting strategy on the fly. It’s always going to be one or the other way and it depends on the moment. It’s just that, personally, I enjoy the strategic mentality more.”
Bradley might be a lover of European style, but he can’t escape his roots and turns to American Football for an analogy that describes his leadership style. “I like to tell my people, look, I’m not the quarterback. I’m one of the guys on the offensive line. You’re going to make the touchdowns and score the points. You’re going to tell me, ‘hey, if you get that problem out of my way, then I can score’. I prefer the type of management style that is about getting out in front, solving problems and letting the team be successful.”
As a young man, the corporate lifestyle was a world away for Bradley. Passionate about music, TV and film, his ambition was to be a creative artist. He worked as a freelancer for Colombia Television, writing music and editing music. For a while he served as the music director on popular soap opera The Young and the Restless. But such freelance jobs didn’t carry health insurance, or pension payments. For years, it didn’t matter as his wife’s job as a teacher came with insurance and a solid retirement plan.
But when the couple had children, it changed Bradley’s priorities. Being creative didn’t always pay the bills, and raising a family without financial stability and regular employment was not an option for him. “Once we had kids, my wife stopped working and I remember thinking ‘I’ll do the creative stuff until I’m 30 years old. I’ll consider that a success’. And I left and took my first corporate job one month before my 30th birthday. I took it right to the edge,” he says.
CORPORATE LIFE
Fortunately, he’d had the foresight to study for a master’s degree in business during those ‘creative’ years. With his qualification and passion for music, he was in demand. He started working for Guitar Center in its corporate office in Westlike Village, a Los Angeles suburb not far from where he lived. (Westlike is also the home for L-Acoustics, where he works today.) At Guitar Center, he was responsible for the pro audio buying and merchandising. He gradually rose up the ranks, and when the company started its GC Pro business, he was part of the founding team.
Following his entry into the AV world, Bradley held a series of high-profile roles. Most recently, he spent six years serving as the president of Group One, the New York-based US distributor for British company Audiotonix, which owns DiGiCo, Calrec, Solid State Logic, Sound Devices, and several other leading pro audio and lighting manufacturers. “Working for Group One was a very similar role to L-Acoustics,” he says. “Instead of mixing consoles, we’re doing speakers and amplifiers. But if you compare DiGiCo and L-Acoustics, they’re both the top brands in the space.”
Prior to Group One, Bradley held multiple executive management positions at Harman Professional Solutions, most recently as senior vice president and general manager of the Americas. His expansive role involved managing retail, live performance, large venue, hospitality and enterprise channels for JBL Professional, AKG, AMX, Crown, dbx, Lexicon, Soundcraft and Martin, among other Harman brands, across the American continents. Bradley has also been COO for Alfred Music, the world’s largest educational music publisher.
He believes that experiencing such a variety of positions has helped develop his career: “I’d advise anyone wanting to get into the pro audio industry to take on as many different roles as possible. Learn what you like and what you don’t, what you’re good at and what you’re not. And it will help sculpt your career to be a successful one. I would say it’s all about momentum and every job will make you better at future ones.”
UNIQUE CHALLENGES
Despite similarities with these previous jobs, a unique challenge at L-Acoustics is the speed of growth. The company has seen a 40 percent increase in its workforce over the past two years and added its 1000th team member at the close of 2024, with 20 percent overall dedicated to design and R&D. The company also announced that it will open its US headquarters at Nashville Yards in summer 2025, the major operations and creative hub for the Americas, joining global hubs in Paris, Los Angeles, London, and Singapore.
“One thousand employees is a huge number and my biggest challenge is helping to make sure that the growth is managed to the best possible outcome,” explains Bradley. “As a company gets to that size, a lot more structure is required to make sure everyone is focused on moving in the same direction. But L-Acoustics is no different to any other company going through those changes, where they have to be a little more focused on process.”
Heading up the Americas market also comes with additional responsibilities. Global markets, with the possible exception of Europe, like to emulate what happens in the Americas. “We tend to be the tip of the spear in markets. So there’s a challenge to make sure that we’re doing it right, because it’s going to be replicated,” he adds.
As a California native, Bradley has never had to move far from the suburbs of LA for work, and he still lives 20 miles from where he was born. “I’ve nothing against moving,” he says. “It just so happens that every job I’ve ended up doing was based here, one of the focal points of the music industry, although when the Nashville office opens I’ll be splitting my time half and half between there and here.” A short commute takes him to the L-Acoustics office in LA, and he makes the trip every day, believing he works more effectively in the office than remotely.
Bradley has three children, aged 24, 22 and 18. His middle son even beat him to a role at L-Acoustics, landing a six-month internship after university. “He’d left before I arrived. So, technically I was only the second person in the family to work here,” he says.
In his spare time, Bradley enjoys the Southern California outdoor lifestyle, based around proximity to the sea and mountains. He plays a lot of golf, surfs at nearby beaches and skis in the mountains, where the family condo is a four-hour drive away. He also still plays the guitar and piano, and jams with friends; his favourite group is Van Halen.
SPECIAL SECTOR
Bradley feels fortunate to work in a sector he’s passionate about. He loves nothing more than experiencing the sense of community in the crowd at a concert, or a show. Knowing that L-Acoustics’ technology is helping to make it happen makes it all the more special, he says. “Think of the first concert you saw and the massive difference now in the quality of the sound and the lights. Any company that’s making people enjoy those experiences more is worth investing my time in. L-Acoustics is a phenomenal brand and if you get a chance to work for a company like that, you’ll take it,” he adds.
The future of pro audio over the next few years will be driven by audiences demanding a better and better experience, he believes. As the desire for immersive experiences has driven change in movie theatres, it will increasingly “trickle across all of the industry”.
Despite uncertainty in the political scene in the US, and around the world, Bradley remains optimistic about the future of the industry: “The logistics of business will always have challenges. We’re living through a time of instability with unpredictable tariffs and shipping issues. But as long as people are passionate about live performances, we’ll never be in jeopardy. I don’t think we’re ever going to lose demand.”
