Quit Claiming Mainstream Country Radio is the Only Way to Success
It was just over seven years ago that a radio consultant named Keith Hill took the issue of the lack of women on country radio, and sent it into hyperdrive. Later dubbed TomatoGate, Keith Hill said in an interview with the country radio trade periodical Country Aircheck, “If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out … Trust me, I play great female records and we’ve got some right now; they’re just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of the salad are the females.”
Keith Hill went on to say about mainstream country radio, “We’re principally a male format with a smaller female component…” and “The reason is mainstream country radio generates more quarter hours from female listeners at the rate of 70 to 75%, and women like male artists.”
Keith Hill’s quotes validated the growing concern at the time for the systemic elimination of women on the country radio format, and lit a fire behind an already burning concern that country radio was falling short on representing women in an equitable manner compared to their male counterparts—a problem that was exacerbated by multiple trends at the time, especially the rise of Bro-Country.
Before TomatoGate and most certainly after, countless initiatives were launched to try and return some semblance of gender balance to mainstream country radio. Many articles were written, organizations were formed, initiatives were enacted to support women in country music, many of which are still ongoing today. And what has been the result? Marginal gains at best. Here seven years after TomatoGate, women still only make up roughly 10% of mainstream country radio playlists, which is just slightly higher than it was in 2015 when it was about 8%. In other words, despite the incredible effort to make mainstream country radio an equal playing field for women, virtually nothing has changed.
Also in 2015, another parallel concern about mainstream country radio was smoldering. Many independent country artists and their fans felt they were being excluded from country radio too, despite a swelling interest in certain artists. The lack of women on country radio dovetailed with the concerns many in independent country also felt at the time. A few months before TomatoGate in 2015, the CEO of Sony Nashville at the time, Gary Overton, made his own controversial statements, saying in part, “If you’re not on country radio, you don’t exist,” emphasizing just how important country radio was to making or breaking a country artist.
Gary Overton’s comments came just a week after the band Blackberry Smoke became the first independent act in the modern era to notch a #1 album on the Billboard Country Albums chart with their release Holding All The Roses. The very next week—and on the same week Gary Overton made his statements—Aaron Watson also notched a #1 album in country with The Underdog. Neither artist had received any significant mainstream country radio play, but they still were able to land #1 albums due to large fan bases rivaling or surpassing some of the up-and-comers in the mainstream that did enjoy mainstream radio support.
Soon Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Whiskey Myers, and Tyler Childers would also land #1 country albums, upstaging the mainstream’s dominance on the genre. With strong grassroots networks—including independent media, social media, festivals, touring circuits, and independent/locally-owned radio irrespective of mainstream country channels—they were able to rival, and sometimes surpass mainstream radio-supported artists.
The song “Feathered Indians” by Tyler Childers being Certified Gold by the RIAA in February of 2020 was another significant step forward for non radio-supported music. Once again reshaping the paradigm in the modern era, it opened the floodgates for independent artists receiving commercial recognition, with Childers eventually earning multiple Gold, Platinum, and now even Double Platinum singles, Cody Jinks and Whiskey Myers also earning multiple Platinum singles, as well as artists such as Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, The Avett Brothers, The Josh Abbott Band, even Wheeler Walker Jr. earning Gold Certifications. Where a #1 album on the Billboard charts could simply be the result of the luck of the draw on a weak release week, the RIAA certs codified the broad and burgeoning commercial prowess of independent music.
It was a tale of two outcomes from two separate approaches to how to deal with country radio’s insular and restrictive environment. Where the effort to support women in country focused on activism, media advocacy, organization building, all with the purpose of challenging the status quo and returning women to country radio, the independent side of country music looked to circumvent mainstream country radio entirely and focus on touring, grassroots network building, independent festival and venue circuits, video channels like GemsOnVHS and Western AF, streaming playlists, as well as Texas Regional Radio, Americana radio, and other independent radio outlets outside of the Music Row influence.
In 2015, we couldn’t imagine artists not supported by mainstream country radio selling out arenas, and minting multiple Platinum singles without the help of Music Row. Here in 2022, Tyler Childers is considered one of the top artists in the entire country music industry, based off the continued success of his 2017 album Purgatory, which continues to receive some 7 million streams per week, and is perennially in the Billboard Country Albums chart. Childers just recently celebrated Purgatory spending 100 weeks on the Billboard 200.
And now we have Zach Bryan, who has well passed all his predecessors as a non radio-supported artist upstaging the mainstream. After the release of his double album American Heartbreak, he’s arguably the #3 most popular artist in all of country music, just slightly behind Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs. Released on May 20th, American Heartbreak continues to occupy one of the Top 3 spots on the Billboard Country Albums chart, while Zach’s single “Something in the Orange” continues to be one of the most streamed songs in 2022—again, without even a semblance of support from mainstream country radio.
Meanwhile, as stated before, women and their representation on corporate country radio are in virtually the same spots that they were in 2015. That doesn’t mean there aren’t mainstream country women that have found success during this era. Carly Pearce and Lainey Wilson have both launched promising careers over the last few years, and have actually found decent support from country radio.
But the big question is why is anyone expending significant effort to diversify country radio when the format has clearly signaled for the last seven years and more that it has no interest in being assuaged from its current practices, and independent artists have proven time and time again that you don’t need radio to find success?
And this phenomenon is not restricted just to independent male artists. Kacey Musgraves became a bonafide superstar with her 2018 album Golden Hour. Though many of the media accounts at the time questioned why Kacey Musgraves received so little radio support for an album that went on to win the CMA, ACM, Grammy Country album, and Grammy all-genre Album of the Year—a.k.a. The Superfecta for a country release—in truth it was Kacey’s strategy from the beginning to circumvent country radio, spend the money that would have been used to promote radio singles that were likely to fail anyway on videos and alternative avenues of promotion—including leveraging Musgraves’ favorable standing in the press to her advantage—and find success without the country radio format.
Golden Hour ended up going Platinum, and Kacey Musgraves forged the greatest moment of her career by giving country radio the side step. Of course, this strategy was forged due to how unlikely it was that Musgraves would have any success at radio in the first place. But Kacey Musgraves and Golden Hour is a perfect illustration of how an alternative strategy to country radio can be more advantageous than trying to court the categorically unfair and restrictive format.
But still, the media and certain activists continue to try and push this idea similar to the one Sony Nashville CEO Gary Overton asserted back in 2015, “If you’re not on country radio, you don’t exist.”
In a recent article in The New Yorker focusing on country artist Hailey Whitters, the sub-headline reads, “Hailey Whitters has won critical acclaim and fans on the Internet. But radio still determines who gets to be a star.”
But this assertion by the New Yorker (and others) is patently false. Nobody would claim that Kacey Musgraves is not a star. She most certainly is. So is Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, and other artists well outside of mainstream country radio’s purview. This is verified by streaming and sales numbers that rival or surpass many other artists that have received mainstream country radio play. The tour numbers for these independent artists also rival or surpass radio-supported artists in certain circumstances.
Furthermore, claiming that radio is the only avenue to success in country music is dangerous because it can become a self-fulfilling prophesy, especially for females in the country format who are being told they’re doing everything perfect, it’s just country music’s radio gatekeepers are keeping them out, as opposed to presenting them with alternatives that have been successful for now scores of country artists that nobody would question calling “stars,” while many artists have forged sustainable careers with more creative control over their music irrespective of mainstream country radio and its whims.
There is also an ugly result in discounting artists as inferior and unsuccessful just because they’re not receiving mainstream radio play, major awards, or other mainstream recognition, like an artist such as Hailey Whitters hasn’t put together a successful career, when if you judge it from a wider perspective, she most certainly has. With the way the independent side of not just country music, but all of music continues to accrue market share, there is no reason to consider artists not receiving radio play, or not signed to a major label as others, especially when critical acclaim commonly outpaces their mainstream counterparts, and sometimes commercial success does too.
There is another issue facing the ability to increase the representation of women on country radio and elsewhere that is rarely addressed in conjunction with this issue: inventory. Women only make up about 16% of the population of country artists, and tend to be less prolific than their male counterparts, meaning there’s less singles to play on radio, or to playlist on Spotify, and less women to put on a festival lineup. That is why development of up-and-coming women needs to be an imperative of the solution. But often up-and-coming country women are overshadowed by the outsized attention flowing to mainstream artists such as Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris from the media because their careers are considered more important since they are part of the mainstream. This issue was underscored recently when the team for Maren Morris indirectly cancelled a performance by up-and-coming artist Paige Davis in New Hampshire due to Maren’s “no local openers” clause.
Of course country radio is closed-minded, corrupt, sexist, and completely unfair. But for well over seven years, those looking to return some semblance of fairness to the format for women and everyone else have not only failed demonstrably, they have failed in part because they fail to recognize or address the underlying economic incentives and realities country radio has to maintaining the status quo, including some that Keith Hill cited. Advocates for change at country radio also regularly fail to recognize how it’s country music’s major labels and their regional representatives that continue to be the most influential voice in the format, not the radio stations, or even local and regional program directors themselves.
There seems to be this idea that women, as well as LGBT, and Black and Brown artists are being actively excluded from country radio under some sort of politically-driven conspiracy against them perpetrated by “gatekeepers.” But country radio would play Klezmer music on repeat if it felt that is what would make them the most money. It would play all women if it felt it was in its economic interests. It’s all a money game. Country radio is exclusively a commercial enterprise, and country singles are simply the incentive to get mainstream consumers to interface with advertising for corporate beer, full size pickup trucks, and mainstream country concerts underwritten by major labels and mega promoters such as LiveNation.
The reason academics and journalists believe there are political or exclusionary motivations behind the demographics of country radio is because they are politically motivated and driven by identitarian ideologies themselves. But corporate country radio is run by empty suits, pouring over data telling them what to play, and beholden to their major label task masters who are their biggest advertisers.
This is also the reason that using mainstream country radio studies culled from corporate playlists to attempt to represent the overall demographics of country music is inherently flawed. This demographic work by Canadian academic Jada E. Watson has been cited in countless think pieces, news stories, and other studies to highlight the lack of women and diversity on country radio, and fairly so. But these same radio studies have also been used to attempt to represent the populous of the entire country genre, once again under the premise “If you’re not on radio, you don’t exist.” This categorically obfuscates the true demographics of the country music community, and often for ulterior purposes.
Similar to saying radio play is imperative to the success of an artist’s career, it is exclusionary and irresponsible to independent country artists, alt-country artist, and the vast and omnivorous community of artists in the Americana realm—many of whom deserve to be considered “country” more than many of their major label, radio-supported counterparts—to exclude them from the community of artists that should be considered “country” just because they’re not on the radio. These artists collectively generate significant amounts of economic activity, and make up the vast majority of the artist population, while performers receiving radio play represent a tiny fraction of country’s artist population—likely less than 1%.
But organizations like the Black Music Action Coalition have recently used these mainstream country radio studies to misrepresent the entire country genre. One reason these mainstream country radio panels are published and portrayed as being representative of the entire country genre is to attempt to portray country music as more exclusionary than it actually is. But these studies actively participate in erasing the impact of women, LGBT, and Black and Brown contributors. The only thing corporate country radio playlists represent is corporate country radio, which increasingly has become niche programming catering to a small, but highly valued mainstream country lifestyle demographic appealing to specific advertisers.
What Keith Hill exposed through TomatoGate was how the corporate country radio system began working like a self-fulfilling prophesy. If you say women shouldn’t make up a significant portion of radio playlists because they can’t succeed, then you being to preordain this activity, as opposed to taking into consideration the economic viability of each radio single, and giving it an equal opportunity regardless of the gender, or any other identity factor of the performer. But saying artists can’t succeed without mainstream country radio is an self-fulfilling prophesy as well, and one just as irresponsible as excluding a single just because a woman is performing it.
It’s not that caring about the quality or outcome of mainstream country radio is completely unimportant. Concerned country fans, artists, advocates, and the media should be continuing to put pressure on the format to be more inclusive, and not just to women, LGBT and POC artists, but also to independent artists, quality songs, and songs that actually sound country. After all, despite all the rhetoric from the academic and journalism class when it comes to country radio, the most discriminated demographic on the country format continues to be artists who actually play country music.
But to continue to assert that country radio is the only way to stardom or success is a dangerous falsehood that is likely injuring the prospects of certain women in country music similar to radio’s continued exclusion of them. Meanwhile, even if country radio was able to be won over by those calling for more diversity, what would be the ultimate end? Radio across the board continues to lose market share to streaming and podcasts in trends that are only increasing and elongating over time. All the effort, attention, energy, and in some instances, money being spent to return women to country radio is all being expended upon a rapidly depreciating asset.
It’s better to set women up for a brighter future through healthier alternatives as opposed to waiting for mainstream country radio to play ball, which it has shown absolutely no desire to do. In fact, the adverse trends to diversifying mainstream country radio continue to become even more ingrained over time, as nationalized playlists, syndication, consolidation, the laying off of local staff, the shortening of playlists, and the elongation of how much time it takes for a country single to mature means even less artists and songs have opportunities to be showcased on the country radio format than seven years ago when TomatoGate occurred.
And meanwhile, on the independent side of country music, it’s like a new era. Of course there are still too few spots for too many worthy artists, and a gulf between the have’s and have not’s, including for women. But the gatekeepers are no longer the corporations that own major labels or massive radio networks. The fans are deciding who wins, who becomes a headliner, who is a middle act, and who is the hot up-and-comer, with festivals codifying these trends and attracting tens of thousands of fans for non mainstream radio-supported artists who receive millions of streams through online networks.
Again, this doesn’t mean we should completely eliminate our concern for country radio. It still serves a significant demographic, no matter how quickly it might be dwindling, and radio still represents what country music is to millions of people. But we have to stop pretending that it’s the only way to make a country music career, because it isn’t. There are many alternatives, and those alternatives are growing stronger every day. And as opposed to the women of country waiting for the next book, the next think piece, the next initiative to finally tear down the unfair system restricting their access to a dying medium, they should start taking advantage to the alternatives to mainstream radio, and the success so many have found pointing their noses in that more favorable direction.
This weekend, thousands of attendees flocked to Pasadena, California for the inaugural Palomino Festival, with Kacey Musgraves headlining, Willie Nelson also playing, independent success stories such as Jason Isbell, Zach Bryan, and the Turnpike Troubadours playing premier spots, and artists representing diversity such as Charley Crockett and Orville Peck also on the lineup.
Next weekend, Under The Big Sky Fest in Montana will commence, with massive crowds taking in headliners Cody Jinks and the Turnpike Troubadours, fast-rising women like Sierra Ferrell, and even artists that have enjoyed some mainstream radio attention such as Lainey Wilson, Midland, and Jamey Johnson.
This is country music. The thousands of people attending these events, they wouldn’t be caught dead listening to mainstream country radio. Even if they started trickling in some of their more favorite artists, or some artists already on the format began to become their favorites, they still wouldn’t listen. Why? Because they’ve found a better way to discover music, and the community that comes along with it.
Radio will always be a component to country music. This is the reason there’s a radio antenna atop the Country Music Hall of Fame rotunda, and a corresponding antenna pointing down to the center point of that hallowed space. But it’s continued failure to contemporize to current trends, to represent the best country music has to offer, and to just flat out not sound country has made it a depreciating asset, while so many alternatives centered on quality and discovery continue to define the future of music.
Stop acting like radio is the only way to create a star in country. That era ended seven years ago. And the future of country radio, if it has one, will be independent, and local, with listeners drawing personal connections with radio personalities, just like they do from their favorite independent artists, who on the whole feel more real and authentic compared to those peddled by the mainstream on pop country radio.
July 11, 2022 @ 9:41 am
That’s a hell of a long post over half a sentence in an article hardly anyone read.
July 11, 2022 @ 9:55 am
Trigger acts like women don’t know how to tour on their own and promote themselves thru Tik Tok, Instagram, etc. and Youtube.
July 11, 2022 @ 11:34 am
You should probably tell that to the usual suspects on Twitter–they need to hear about it more than Trig does.
July 11, 2022 @ 10:59 am
This is a very important issue that goes well beyond the half sentence I cited in the article. That is why I chose to take a deep dive on it. Totally understand if it’s too long, or too esoteric for some.
July 11, 2022 @ 9:42 am
Ok but what % of female country radio listeners prefer to hear male artists over female artists. It’s not sexist if women prefer to hear male artists. Scrolling thru my social media the country artists I see women most excited about are male artists (Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan) I’m not comparing female country artists to the WNBA, because there are many talented ones that are headliner quality, but lets stop pretending that women’s preference for male artists is somehow sexist.
I still have yet to hear anyone I know express enthusiasm for Charlie Crockett and that sad lampshade, Orville Peck
July 11, 2022 @ 10:50 am
Exactly. Women I’ve known at work or socially who have indicated that they enjoy country music have all had much more enthusiasm for the male artists. Back in the ’90s, a woman I was dating was all up for seeing Brooks and Dunn and Randy Travis with me, but it was “no thanks” for a chance to see Wynonna in concert. The only female artist we agreed on was Kathy Mattea. Turn the calendar ahead to 2020 and the younger women in the office were big fans of Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, not Carly Pearce and Miranda Lambert. This is strictly anecdotal evidence, but there must be at least a morsel of fact supporting it.
July 11, 2022 @ 11:25 am
It’s too bad. Kathy Mattea is great. Leann Womack and Martina Mcbride also have fantastic albums that are great to listen to all the way through. Steel guitar mixes with the female voice in ways it doesn’t with male voices.
July 12, 2022 @ 10:11 am
Just thinking about my ’90s friend … I remember being up at Saratoga on my own for a few days of horse racing in ’93 or ’94 and seeing an ad somewhere for the Hunter Mountain Country Music Festival taking place less than an hour south. Noting that Hal Ketchum was going to be the headliner the next day, I skipped the horses and headed south for a brilliant show. When I got back to Connecticut, I called my friend and told her that I’d been to a country show and seen Hal. Her response was something like “Why didn’t you come back here and take me? Hal is GORGEOUS!” Yes, she liked his music, too, but that wasn’t the most important thing!
July 11, 2022 @ 11:21 am
The reason there is an issue with women on country radio is that when you say, “women don’t want to listen to other women,” or “country fans don’t want to hear women,” it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy where all of a sudden excellent singles are being excluded just because of the gender of the performer. That is a problem.
That said, the individuals spearheading the movement to return equality to country radio fail to recognize some of the underlying reasons this issue is occurring, including the fact that mainstream country women tend to prefer hearing men. Go to any Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Dan + Shay concert and look at the demographics of the first few rows. It’s all women. This is also the reason for the rise of “Boyfriend Country” that took Bro-Country’s place. Mainstream country men are directly singing to women in most of their radio singles.
If you want to solve this problem, you have to recognize this trend and others, and address them. Instead, those working on the women in country issue seem more resigned to believing there’s some grand conspiracy being perpetrated by straight white men to keep women off the country format because they hate women. Yes, there are straight white men involved, but their only motivation is money.
July 11, 2022 @ 11:29 am
Women have the agency to listen the kind of music they want to listen to. I fail to see why the onus to change this falls on men. It sucks for female country artists, but the choices of record execs seems to be based on the preferences of women listeners. I don’t know how preaching to men about this will change that.
July 11, 2022 @ 11:34 am
“Yes, there are straight white men involved, but their only motivation is money.”
Seems like a conspiracy starting with Ronald Reagan that these rich white men want to keep female audiences listening to mostly male artists, because if not they will ‘turn gay.’ (sarcasm)
Never has there been a time where people get to unilaterally choose what they want to listen to because of technology. Who even listens to terrestrial radio anymore to find music? I don’t want to solve the problem, because as a straight white male it’s not my fault that women prefer male country artists. Maybe preach directly at them and try to make them feel bad for their own choices.
July 11, 2022 @ 12:01 pm
….”That is a problem.”….
Why? In all these years, I’ve yet to see you, or anyone else, make a logical argument for why women should get more plays. If you’re acknowledging, and it sounds like you are, that people, including women, prefer male performers, then what is the logic for playing more music that less people want to hear?
July 11, 2022 @ 5:53 pm
I’m advocating for every single sent to country radio to be judged on its own merit regardless of the gender of the performer. Under the current system, that does not necessarily occur. On many country playlists, there are specific limits on how many woman can be played each hour, how songs from women can’t be played back to back, and other rules that systemically restrict the success a female-sung single can achieve.
I also recognize that there are reasons for those rules, and those reasons have to do with economics and appeal. But that doesn’t necessarily make specific restrictions on women at country radio forgivable, or valuable.
July 11, 2022 @ 7:46 pm
……”I also recognize that there are reasons for those rules, and those reasons have to do with economics and appeal. But that doesn’t necessarily make specific restrictions on women at country radio forgivable, or valuable.”……
The reasons that you admittedly recognize exist, are objective, and the restrictions they lead to are objectively valuable. Those restrictions literally (not figuratively) add value. Why would an objectively valuable business decision need to be forgivable or unforgivable? This isn’t a moral or personal slight.
You’re admitting that your entire argument is based on your feelings of right and wrong, which, like I said, is not logical.
I hate to steal an incel term, but you’re white-knighting. That’s exactly what you’re doing. You’re admitting that music made by women is objectively less valuable, but that it should be played anyway because “it’s not fair” not to play it. You’re riding in to “save the day”.
July 11, 2022 @ 10:22 pm
“You’re admitting that music made by women is objectively less valuable, but that it should be played anyway because “it’s not fair” not to play it.”
That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m not calling for quotas for women. I’m simply saying when you have hard rules in place for how many woman can get played in an hour or that you can’t play women back to back, it creates an unfair playing field for women to release singles in as opposed to songs being judged objectively and being given equal consideration.
There is no “white knighting” happen here, trust me. All the people who spearhead this whole “play more women” thing think I’m the absolute worst person in the entirety of country music because I dare question their orthodoxy about why women aren’t being played.
July 12, 2022 @ 6:55 am
There are two things that I think may warrant some thought on this subject of whether or not women are getting a fair shake on country radio.
One is whether, if what these country radio elitists are saying is true about women preferring The Guys over their fellow female, women listeners are attracted more to male machismo out of their own personal insecurity.
The other thing to think about, in my humble opinion, is in what parts of the country these surveys, or focus groups if you will, about women country music listeners preferring men over women are being conducted. If it is only in areas like the South or the Midwest, then it seems to me it would indeed be skewed in the women-prefer-men direction–but it also wouldn’t necessarily be indicative of EVERY female country music listener in ALL of America.
July 12, 2022 @ 9:05 am
@Erik North,
“The other thing to think about, in my humble opinion, is in what parts of the country these surveys, or focus groups if you will, about women country music listeners preferring men over women are being conducted. If it is only in areas like the South or the Midwest, then it seems to me it would indeed be skewed in the women-prefer-men direction–but it also wouldn’t necessarily be indicative of EVERY female country music listener in ALL of America.”
Oh, I can’t wait to hear you elaborate and qualify this statement …
Smiling.
July 11, 2022 @ 10:08 am
you’re right – 8% vs. 10% doesn’t seem like a lot.
BUT – when you combine it with your other statistic – that women make up 16% of country artists, then we would expect women to make up 16% of radio play. From this perspective, the difference between 8% and 10% could very well be significant.
Obviously, there is still a ways to go, but perhaps this is a better sign than you’re giving it credit for.
July 11, 2022 @ 11:26 am
I don’t want to discount that progress has been made, on radio, and also with awards, festival lineups, etc. But if it takes you seven years to move 2%, those aren’t good odds. In my opinion, there are just so much more lucrative avenues. If radio will play ball, awesome. But if I was a woman, I wouldn’t be hoping for it or expecting it. I would be looking for alternatives.
July 11, 2022 @ 5:52 pm
Thanks for the nod to Palomino Festival. I was there and it was fantastic top to bottom. Most people would be familiar only with Kacey Musgraves, Willie and maybe OCMS. But Sierra Farrell, Charley Crockett, Zach Bryan and the TTs all put on amazing shows. Nikki Lane, Amythyst Kiah, Valerie June and Jaime Wyatt were all terrific female performers as well. Country music is as good as ever, it just requires a little more work to find it. Great article, Trigger.
July 11, 2022 @ 10:23 pm
Might have to go next year.
July 11, 2022 @ 10:48 am
I think you’re misinterpreting that 16%. It sounds like they pulled it from the Billboard charts. It could be that 80% of country artists are women, they’re just all not getting airplay.
Beyond that, totally agree. Radio is dying and no artist starting out today who wants to have a long career should spend too much time courting it.
July 11, 2022 @ 11:24 am
The number could be higher. I know simply from the amount of music submissions I receive for both singles and albums, there are significantly less women. There is an inventory issue. That is why I try to focus on up-and-coming artists so much, because that ground-level support is so important to helping launch careers.
July 11, 2022 @ 1:16 pm
Heh, I’m probably thinking the number should be higher because I’ve been reading your coverage for several years! I can believe it’s less, and your inbox is as good a source as any, but 16% just sounds crazy to me. That’s like female CEO numbers.
July 11, 2022 @ 11:02 am
I think you’re probably right, mainstream country radio is a lost cause. Instead of infiltrating country radio, I think the solution is to support an alternative radio format on terrestrial radio. Not to sound like a shill, but I think the Outlaw Country station on Sirius XM is a pretty good model for what an independent country radio format might look like. And I know there are some other good regional stations scattered about the country. Get a station like that in every medium to large market, and you will have “saved country music.”
July 11, 2022 @ 11:04 am
Yes, bottom line is the target demographic pteferences. Advertisors care. But the demographic target of women listeners seemed to become more pronounced sometime in the early 2000’s. Growing up on country radio in the 80s, i well remember when gals like Reba first hit the airwaves. There were others back then. People like Janie Fricke, Forrestor Sisters, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Terri Gibb, Lacy J Dalton, Barbara Mandrell, Patty Loveless, Crystal Gayle, Tanya Tucker etc. Dolly was still charting hits. So there was a fair representation of the gals back then. But it certainly never was a 50/50 deal. That isnt the way entertainment works.Most music fans like music that grabs them. We dont do equality calculations when making playlists or organizing a record or cd collection. Why? Because music grabs us on a deeper level. It speaks to us individually , based on personal taste, ie: what tickles our ear. The ” journalists” Trig refers to who evaluate radio programming based on their own unrealistic delusions are removing the human element from this picture.
I guess back in the day the demographic for country radio included .men and women. At some point corporate radio changed that and made a whole lot of us leave the radio and find better options. Personally, to find any good country radio in my area is like the quest to find Atlantis. It simply doesnt exist. Fortunately, as Trig points out, there is an array of other options. Final thought: there has always been a long line of hopefuls in the music biz.
To quote the words of DAC: drifter can ya make folks cry when you play and sing, have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues, can you bend them guitar strings, he said boy can you make folks feel what you feel inside, if your big star bound just remember its a long hard ride.”
July 11, 2022 @ 11:47 am
I found more of the new bands I enjoy thru Youtube, Instagram and Spotify playlists. Kelly Willis is a cool female artist I recently discovered thru Youtube who sounds very much like Patty Loveless, from the same era. Lake Street Dive (not country) is one of my fav newer bands, female led, found them from Instagram.
July 11, 2022 @ 11:26 am
Great article. Thanks, Trigger.
July 11, 2022 @ 11:48 am
You are 100% correct that I would not listen to country radio even if they started playing some of the artists I listen to. It’s quite convenient that all the CRAP is consolidated in one place that I can easily avoid.
July 11, 2022 @ 12:32 pm
Couldn’t agree more, Jer. Also, perhaps the female artists will find more success if they don’t court radio. Kaitlin Butts, Bri Bagwell, Margo Cilker, Kacey Musgraves, Jaime Lin Wilson, Courtney Patton….I “discovered” all those incredible women from live shows/festivals or SCM. They stand on their own merit and never once did I hear a fellow concert goer say “I wish this was a male artist” nor did the crowds break for the beer line.
July 11, 2022 @ 7:59 pm
Jer : Amen!
July 11, 2022 @ 12:22 pm
Mainstream Country radio is the only way to the kind of success that the overwhelming majority of performers, who are being honest with themselves, long for.
Success without it is a more difficult road, with less money and less acclaim. Any performer who intentionally pursues the non-mainstream path, is doing so out of a belief that the music comes first, but they’re lying if they say they wouldn’t like to put the music first and have mainstream success simultaneously.
The non-mainstream performer willingly, and knowingly pursues a less successful career, for the love of the music.
And this applies to C(c)ountry music in a general sense as well. It’s not dead because there’s nobody who plays it. It’s dead because it’s no longer a commercially-viable, mainstream art form. It’s no longer a commercially-viable, mainstream art form, because the culture that created it no longer exists naturally.
July 11, 2022 @ 2:44 pm
“Mainstream Country radio is the only way to the kind of success that the overwhelming majority of performers, who are being honest with themselves, long for. Success without it is a more difficult road, with less money and less acclaim.”
Plenty of indie musicians are making six figures, which is much more than most people trying the mainstream route can say:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryancollinseurope/2019/10/18/give-it-away-for-free-says-this-six-figure-musician/?sh=709dc48d7bf8
“Any performer who intentionally pursues the non-mainstream path, is doing so out of a belief that the music comes first, but they’re lying if they say they wouldn’t like to put the music first and have mainstream success simultaneously.”
Well, SOMEBODY likes their music–depending on which bracket the six figures lies, indie artists are making more than doctors and lawyers. They’re definitely making more than the noobs on mainstream radio.
Country music isn’t dead. The way we’re used to finding it (i.e. radio) is dead.
July 11, 2022 @ 6:35 pm
Generally speaking, of course artists want the largest possible audience for their music. But mainstream country radio—just like late night television—just doesn’t hold the same allure it did for previous generations. Some independent artists might act like Randy Travis did when he heard one of his songs was charting in pop. “Get it off there!”
There are also plenty of artists that are perfectly content with whatever audience their music naturally brings them. I’m working on a story as we speak about how Tyler Childers could be selling out arenas at the moment, but is happy instead hanging out at home and playing the occasional bluegrass festival. “Stardom” doesn’t appeal to everyone, some artists are downright repulsed by it, and the American rock and roll fantasy continues to diminish with each generation as people worry more about being happy instead of rich and famous.
July 11, 2022 @ 2:21 pm
Thanks for this article! I’m curious how many women writers are behind some of these radio songs. I’ve noticed there are often women writers behind radio hits. (But then again there is a small number of women writers overall. Do you know the statistic on that?) I myself am trying to get my country songs cut and I am very aware that a cut from a man would advance my career faster / have a much larger impact overall than anything I put out myself.
I would agree that the main crime of country radio is it doesn’t play country music.
There also seems to be this thought that ‘what sells’ is the party crowd music / the good-time songs. But when you look at some of the artists you mentioned like Zach Bryan, Tyler Childers, Charley Crockett – they are very successful and not churning out party songs. Some of their best work are the deep cuts they release. Their authenticity shines.
As for women in country music – it’s kind of extreme in that women are either scraping by or are huge…and then inevitably turn pop. Few exist in the in-between. As someone who grew up in the 90’s and was listening to all those wonderful female artists during that time – this is a head-scratcher for me. Where did this disconnect of women in country music come from / start? Speaking for myself, during the years that female-country was hard to find I was still listening to country-ish / country adjacent female artists (and the 90’s country ladies I grew up listening to).
The comment of the radio era ending 7 years ago – agree. The problem with being spoon-fed media in any capacity (music, news, etc…) is that when you notice the quality is poor, you will find ways to get the authenticity and quality that is being produced elsewhere. These festivals are a good indicator that people have moved on from radio. I don’t think radio will ever be irrelevant, but I do think the music audience in general sees it for what it is and it isn’t the main vehicle of content for most.
July 11, 2022 @ 6:00 pm
There are quite a few successful songwriters in mainstream country that happen to be women. The Love Junkies come to mind: Liz Rose, Lori McKenna, and Hillary Lindsay. I remember laughing when we found out that the Florida Georgia Line song “Sun Daze” was co-written by Sarah Buxton, who gets quite a few cuts. Natalie Hemby has enjoyed quite a successful career as a songwriter for mainstream cuts, along with being in the Highwomen. I’m sure the amount of women writing mainstream country songs is less than men, but there are a lot of successful women songwriters.
July 11, 2022 @ 6:49 pm
Yeah, there are more male songwriters than female songwriters in the country music genre, but – in addition to the names above, listed by Trigger – there are many very good female songwriters with Billboard charted country hits: Karen Staley, Matraca Berg, Tia Sillers, Gretchen Peters, Liz Hengber, Victoria Shaw, Benita Hill, Lari White, Jill Colucci, … just to name a few more off the top of my head. And Rosanne Cash wrote many of her own hits.
July 11, 2022 @ 8:25 pm
I’m familiar with a lot of these women writers and am a big fan of their work. I just wonder how many women writers have songs that are *currently/recently on radio within the past five or so years. Looking at a recent Music Row Magazine top songwriter chart there aren’t many ladies listed. Could be interesting to look into those numbers / that data. Would you see similarities across different genres? And with Bobby Bones’ comments about fake number ones and the politics behind them – is all that data even ‘real’ anyway? Taking the fake #1’s into consideration makes it much sweeter that artists can find success without radio play and the BS politics that go with it. However, it seems independent artists are less likely to cut songs from songwriters. They usually cut their own material and/or have very few other writers they co-write with. It all begins with a song and I hope there is a bright future for songwriters ahead (and that they are compensated for their work too).
July 11, 2022 @ 2:35 pm
One thing I’m curious about is if it is as equally challenging for a female under, say thirty, to break into radio or Music Industry Inc. as a programmer/A & R person? Would more women in those decision-making jobs result in more women getting airplay?
July 11, 2022 @ 6:36 pm
“Would more women in those decision-making jobs result in more women getting airplay?”
No. The bottom line is this: the female fanbase in country music prefers male artists. So even if you made all of the A&R and the label execs female, they would still have to release what the people (fans) who pay their salary buy.
July 11, 2022 @ 3:26 pm
I guess I’m old style but I don’t think success on the independent scene is the same as success on radio. Sure there are people who hit it big selling their music digitally and without radio airplay but I don’t think anyone outside their fanbase would consider them a star. Being a country star has always been about having hits on the top 40, getting appearances on variety shows and other stuff game brings. These guys making a living on Spotify or otherwise can do well and better in some cases than people on radio but their only somebody to their fans. Maybe in time that will change but still seems to be that way. Also the amount of people trying to become a successful artist on digital sites is staggering, I would reckon much higher than radio since less hurdles. While there are successes, there are undoubtedly far far more unsuccessful artist so just touting the success stories only tells half the story.
July 12, 2022 @ 6:08 am
Other than hard rock/metal, I cannot think of another music genre where this wall for female artists exists. I find it frustrating and completely confounding. For the sake of science I subjected myself to listening to a Top 40 pop station on my commute to work this morning. At least half of the songs played were female singers. I assume the overwhelming majority of listeners of this format are women, yet they are listening to women. I get that pop is more of a “sound” or a “beat” where the lyrics can at times be quite meaningless or not the focal point of the song. But still lots of female voices. Why is country different? I look at my wife’s top played artists on her Spotify – Morgan Wade, Miranda, Ashley McBryde, Lori McKenna, Kacey, Katie Pruitt, Kaitlyn Butts….are all even with Stapleton, Isbell, and Turnpike. Maybe I’m lucky to have such an open-minded bride? Or maybe it’s the fact that I play these artists and she hears them and says – who is that, I want to add her to my library. The basic premise that women prefer to hear songs by men needs to be challenged. Maybe women just need to hear more songs coming out of the speakers sung by women? And maybe the self-fulfilling prophesy that Trigger speaks of will unravel.
December 3, 2022 @ 7:34 am
My wife dislikes female country singers. She doesn’t like the way they sound. She says it’s because “women don’t really like other women that much”.
About a third of my country playlists are female artists and she always hits the skip button
July 12, 2022 @ 6:16 am
Who on earth is making this claim? It is patently false, always has been, even prior to the internet. Also, what is “success”? I call it a success when an artist is writing the songs they are proud of and having fun. I have never tried to make money from music or gave a hoot what anyone thought I should do (for some reason non musicians think it is genius to suggest trying out for American Idol). I’ll continue to work with metal to buy my equipment and continue building out my home studio, eventually if I have great players coming over to play like I did last night, soon enough I will have succeeded. Success is in your attitude it has nothing to do with fame.
July 12, 2022 @ 6:55 am
I spent a few days in Branson recently and saw the popularity of family acts there. So many Branson shows feature women and men singing and playing instruments together. I don’t listen to mainstream radio enough to know, but when’s the last time a family act made an impact on mainstream country radio?
July 12, 2022 @ 7:39 am
Kacey Musgraves is pop trash.
July 12, 2022 @ 7:59 am
I just saw Charlie Crockett and Vincent Neil Emmerson play Sunday night. The theatre was completely packed! These guys definitely don’t need radio play to be successful. Awesome show!!
July 12, 2022 @ 8:37 am
Mainstream country’s biggest problem isn’t gender. It is quality.
The best of the genre have been put out to pasture, independent, or reside in the Texas sphere .
If I turn on the radio today, I won’t hear the Turnpike Troubadours or Jamie Lin Wilson. There is your problem. And it was present in 2015.
July 12, 2022 @ 12:09 pm
“Mainstream country’s biggest problem isn’t gender. It is quality.”
(Or, lack, thereof)
100%.
July 12, 2022 @ 10:16 am
I’m biased because I live in a city and don’t own a car, but do that many people still really listen to the radio anymore? Even among my friends who do have cars, few of them seek out FM radio.
As more cars come with Apple Car Play, more people will get into the habit of plugging in their phones for easier navigation. And once Car Play is on the screen, Spotify becomes easier to turn on than FM radio.
And I know Country Radio still dominates the most popular Spotify Country playlists. But there are some independent artists in them, and playlists like Indigo and Heart of Texas are a click away for when the listener gets bored.
Maybe I’m in a bubble and wrong, but seems to me that streaming will dominate country radio in the near future. Which would only mean good things for independent artists.
July 13, 2022 @ 10:42 am
Well firstly this perceived male dominated country charts is truly ridiculous. This happened back in the day when country music radio would not play two females in a row. Female artists have just as much to say as the males do. And I think many of the male artists sound so close to each other you really don’t know who your listening to. That’s not the way it is with the females. That’s my opinion on that.
As far as how country radio is perceived today…..I’d say it’s truly boring. Here in the state of Connecticut we have a radio station….92.5 FM. It’s one of the most boring country music radio stations out there. Why? They play the top 20 over and over again. How boring is that. If I had to listen to a country radio station I definitely would not listen to them. If you own a radio station you should mix old in with the new…..then you cover more of the listening demographic. You don’t pigeon hole yourself to one set group of people. The plus in mixing old in with the new is that the younger generation gets to truly hear who brought us to the point were at now. The point now is….plain and boring. It’s vanilla. And on ending my answer to this article. The only radio station I know of that gets it right is 650 WSM A.M. radio in Nashville Tennessee. Yes they play the top 20 records….but you get a mix of older stuff from the Carter Family up to Blake Shelton. It’s how it should be. You get the right mix of tradition.
July 14, 2022 @ 8:51 am
A handful of radio “consultants” (bean counters in suits, not music guys) started picking ALL of the “hits” (public has zero input into what becomes a hit) after station ownership rules changed in 1996. “Hits” are determined by how much money is sent radio’s way by the labels/artist management. The big three…Citadel, Clear Channel and Cumulus bought up all the major market stations after the rule change (which happened after heavy lobbying by radio) making the radio business completely corporate. No more real program directors…all stations had to play the drivel they were told to play. That control and manipulation still continues to this day. Money rules that corrupt business, not fantastic music…in fact much of what you hear on corporate radio (the so called “hits”) is often the crappiest, boring-est, most predictable sound alike, assembly line noise out there. Because of all this, radio has become it’s own worst enemy. Since 1996 all three of the above mentioned have been in bankruptcy and have had to restructure. The internet with social media, satellite radio, and streaming is kicking radio’s ass and I love it. The best music is not found on corporate radio…period.
July 16, 2022 @ 7:44 am
Mainstream Country radio today seems partial to fads like “Bro-Country” and “Country Rap” (looking at you,Cowboy Troy) and pinup cowboys like Sam Hunt, Luke Bryan (Happy 46th Birthday tomorrow,July 17,Thomas Luther),Brad Paisley (who at least is talented) at the expense of Sturgill Simpson, Struggle Jennings ,Jade Eagleson and other worthy but less-telegenic artists. Hopefully that’ll change,but women fans like the pretty boy types,as another poster typed above.
July 16, 2022 @ 7:49 am
In the nineties,women fans loved Reba,Patty Loveless,Martina McBride,K.T.Oslin,Linda Davis (what happened to Linda?) and other female stars. Then the studs took over the airwaves thanks the the record labels and PDs and save a few top-drawer acts, the girls dropped from the playlists.Perhaps the pendulum will swing back towards more female artists as the music seems cyclical.
July 17, 2022 @ 11:38 am
Yup. Took awhile to get to the point. The one who makes the most money gets all the support. Art has nothing to do with it.
July 18, 2022 @ 6:42 am
Which is why ALL genres,not just Country,are artistically lagging.