Last June, the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) published a report called ‘Three Chords & The Actual Truth’ on country music diversity.
Tag: country
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Black Music Action Coalition criticises the country music industry
The report from the Black Music Action Coalition is training the lens on an aspect of diversity in country music: race.
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Morgan Wallen axed from streaming playlists after racial slur
Country star Morgan Wallen had been all over radio and streaming playlists alike in the early weeks of 2021, with his ‘Dangerous: The Double Album’ topping the US charts. However, […]
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Spotify ‘Hot Country’ playlist has generated 5bn streams
Happy birthday to Spotify’s flagship country music playlist ‘Hot Country’, which is five years old this month. “Since its 2015 launch, it has amassed 6 million followers and seen more […]
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Spotify signs podcast development deal with Scooter Braun
Scooter Braun is a man with his finger in many pies, and now he’s added podcasts to his pastry portfolio. In fact, his Ithaca Holdings company has signed a podcast development deal with Spotify (described as a ‘first look’ agreement by Variety, which means Spotify will get first dibs on new shows from Ithaca Holdings).
The first show has already been announced: ‘Country Shine with Graham Bunn’. It’ll be a twice-weekly podcast focusing on country music, hosted by radio and TV veteran Bunn and sports reporter Camryn Irwin.
Braun himself is executive producer on the project, which will be exclusive to Spotify. It’s the latest expansion for Spotify’s country-focused content: earlier this year it launched a new playlist called ‘Indigo’ to sit alongside ‘Hot Country’ and ‘New Boots’ as its genre flagships.
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Apple Music Radio adds live country and hits stations
Spotify’s ‘audio first’ strategy involves an aggressive move into spoken-word content with podcasts (and soon audiobooks?) to compete with live radio. Apple Music has followed a different path, with the […]
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Tim McGraw to host an ‘all-live album premiere’ livestream
The longer this lockdown goes on, the more artists are finding different ways to experiment with the format of livestreams – and also to charge for them.
Country star Tim McGraw is the latest example. He’s going to be holding a “unique all-live album premiere” event on 22 August, broadcasting from Nashville to tie in with his new album’s release.
“Tim McGraw is inviting all fans to participate in a one-time-only performance to share the stories behind the new songs,” explains the splash site. “Together with his band, McGraw will play some old favorites along with new tracks. Up-close and live, this will be an intimate performance with interaction and connection for everyone watching.”
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Chase Rice and Chris Janson concerts spark controversy
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 […]
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Garth Brooks concert to be shown at 300+ drive-in cinemas
We’ve seen some early experiments in the US around putting on music concerts in drive-in cinemas (movie theaters) to keep within social distancing rules. What’s better than playing a single […]
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Country music streaming grew by 36% in the US in 2019
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 […]
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Study suggests country radio listeners DO want more women
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 […]
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SongData has more bad news on country-radio gender splits
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 […]