Tag: country music

We’ve been writing and thinking a lot about what the ‘new normal’ will be for music concerts as Covid-19 lockdown restrictions ease. There are already gigs taking place at drive-in cinemas in the US; experiments...

“Country music is going to be the biggest sort of paradox for AI because the underlying melodies and so on are very formulaic. But the lyrics are based on human experience. I’d be very interested how long it would...

New research from MRC Data/Nielsen Music suggests that streaming of country music grew by more than a third (36%) in 2019 compared to 2018. It also found that 56% of country radio listeners now use a streaming service every...

Country radio stations in the US have been criticised strongly in recent times for their male-dominated playlists. A study published earlier this month by SongData’s Jada Watson showed why: women accounted for just 10%...

2019 has seen a running debate about diversity in country music: one that focuses on traditional radio playlists as well as the streaming world. Now research project SongData has published some new stats exploring the former,...

Apple Music has anointed its latest ‘Up Next’ artist, who’ll be getting a boost across the company’s music platforms. It’s Canadian artist Jessie Reyez, who’s actually been doing pretty well on Apple Music for...

Spotify has announced another original podcast in partnership with a musician: country artist Reba McEntire. It’s due to launch early in 2020, with Spotify promising “Reba’s trademark wit and wisdom as she and expert...

Country artist Martina McBride has been making headlines this month by taking Spotify to task for its playlist-creation algorithm. Now she’s in the spotlight for a different reason: she’s become the latest artist to launch...

We reported yesterday on the latest criticism of Spotify from country artist Martina McBride, including her complaint that while the company had met with her privately to talk about its playlist-creation recommendation algorithm,...

Does country radio in the US have a diversity problem? The debate has already been rumbling for a while, but a new research study puts some numbers to the lack of women on mainstream country radio – as reflected by Billboard’s...

Research firm NPD has published its latest ‘Rural America and Technology’ study, which has a surprising finding: 31% of US households still don’t have a broadband internet connection. “The number works out to roughly...

There’s a slightly woe-is-me feel to Vanity Fair’s ‘If Taylor Swift Can’t Have a No. 1 Pop Hit in 2019, Can Anyone?’ headline. The correct answer being ‘Yes, Lil Nas X has been having a giant No. 1 pop hit in...