It’s time for the annual Country Radio Seminar and for the first time SongData research is being shared at a panel entitled: Diversi”Tea”: Spilling the Data on Inclusive Programming. The brainchild of Bryan Webb (Apple Music Country Radio Producer), this panel is addressing — just as the title suggests — the state of representation on Country format radio and initiatives taken by panelists to build more inclusive practices. The panel is moderated by Elaina Doré Smith, and SongData analysis will be presented as a frame to the panel discussion. Jess Wright (Country Host and Format Captain for LiveOne) and Travis Moon (Director of Operations – Urban One Houston) are also part of the panel, sharing their programming experiences and their strategies for what type of data they use when making decisions.
The full slide deck with my analysis of Representation on Country Radio in 2023 and analysis of LiveOne’s data that I did on their behalf is available here. The final slides contain a short essay on the days leading up to CRS, that I have included here. The panel handout is also available for download here.
on change
When Beyoncé surprised the world on 11 February 2024 during the LVIII Super Bowl with the release of two Country singles, the focus of the Diversi-”Tea” panel shifted. We still aimed to address the need for inclusive programming on the format, but the release of “Texas Hold ‘Em” as a single serviced to the format gave us a topic — or case study, if you will — around which we could discuss strategies for programming. We discussed this opportunity in our final panel prep call on 13 February, on the heels of the song being serviced to the format and days before Beyoncé made history on several industry charts.
All eyes were on the industry for some kind of a response to the single — and controversy seemingly erupted before the format had chance to make its move. The morning of our prep call, an employee of KYKC in southern Oklahoma responded to a listener’s request to play the new Beyoncé song with: “Hi — we do not play Beyoncé on KYKC as we are a country music station.” The listener posted a screen shot of the email and within hours Country radio’s presumed refusal to play the song was all over the media.
It was too soon on Tuesday (just two days after the surprise release) to have a meaningful conversation about how the Country music industry was reacting to Beyoncé’s new music. The media swirl had responded faster (and without much thought to context) than the actual situation was developing within the music industry. A Billboard article from 13 February spoke of the format being “slow to play her songs.” Given that the releases were a surprise, it seems rather disingenuous to be levelling these types of accusations two days after its release and on the heels of it being serviced to Country radio with an impact date of 20 February 2024. Even more disingenuous when you consider that several Country stations were already playing the single and by 14 February KKBQ 93Q in Houston added the song to its playlist.
We now know that radio indeed picked up the song: it debuted at #54 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, two days later at #50 on the Mediabase Country Airplay chart, and on 20 February 2024 at #1 of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. The song became one of the fastest-moving in recent radio history (debuting after just one week of airplay) and the first song by a Black woman to reach at the top of Hot Country Songs in the chart’s 66-year history. Until “Texas Hold ‘Em”, Linda Martell held a 55-year record for having the highest-charting song with “Color Him Father”, which peaked at #22 in September 1969.
Two weeks after the song’s servicing to the Country format, “Texas Hold ‘Em” has been played on 126 Country stations across the USA, accumulating 1,676 spins. The song jumped from 12 spins on 13 February to 139 the next day and has had steady airplay across reporting stations since then. For a format that has not historically picked up singles by women this quickly — let alone singles by Black women — the airplay and chart numbers that this song is making right now is a welcome surprise. But the industry’s quick reaction to it, coupled with statements from program directors that “Everything’s ubiquitous, everything’s available. I don’t care who services what; I go on the internet and there it is — that means I’ve been serviced, if I can find a WAV file! I don’t care what their marketing plan is”, has left many conflicted on the quick embrace. The “rules” that have limited access to women (especially Black, Indigenous and women of colour) seemingly did not apply and what has historically taken songs by women weeks if not months to achieve in accumulated airplay happened over night for Beyoncé. In fact, Beyoncé’s single accumulated in two weeks slightly more spins than all songs by Tiera Kennedy (the most played Black female artist in 2023) accumulated last year.
Perhaps most critically, the song is being played in daytime programming, with 47.6% of the airplay received in its first week occurred between 6am and 7pm, dropping to 36.0% in week two — hours that ensure high listenership. This may not last long, it is possible that a drop in audience impressions will lead stations that added the track to place the song in evenings and overnights, creating a pathway for it to exit the charts and playlists altogether. It feels too soon to know for certain – especially given the unprecedented leap on to playlists and the charts just days after its release.
For a single that just one week ago was the centre of controversy over being “rejected” from Country format — one presumably “slow to play Beyoncé’s new music,” we are seeing two weeks out that the song is (at least for now) being embraced and moved into higher-rotation spots within station playlists — all while songs by Black female country artists receive a total of 0.02% of the airplay.
Systemic change cannot happen without changing the system.
Our focus in this panel is on the need for inclusive programming. But it’s not just a need, it’s a moral imperative of the entire industry to build ethical and just ways of working if any sense of equity is to be achieved. And while adding Beyoncé’s song is of critical importance, it will not fix inequity in the industry — nor it is fair to expect this of her. Adding and stirring is not the answer. Echoing Marcia J. Citron, there is danger in mechanically adding new artists and works into the system – especially those artists who are outside of the system (like women, artists of color, and LGBTQIA+ artists) – without questioning the system and conceptualizing its reconstitution. Visibility counts for a lot, it’s powerful, but it is not the whole picture. This work is as much about creating opportunities for artists as it is evaluating the weight and impact of current practices on the careers of these artists and the ways in which they create barriers that limit their potential for success and longevity within the industry.
Radio tour, for example, is not a financially viable activity for many artists – especially women, artists of color, and LGBTQIA+ artists – and could be re-envisioned in a more equitable way that doesn’t place the financial burden on emerging artists. Not only can these tours be done virtually, but stations can build relationships with organizations that invest in emerging artists to fund travel for station visits but also go the extra step to work with local venues to host shows. Create opportunities on stations and in communities for new artists and be a part of the process of career development.
Move beyond the major-label system to seek out artists to platform and build new pathways that do not require the financial investment of an artist servicing their songs to the format. Everything is ”ubiquitous”, after all, just “go on the internet” and “find a WAV file” to build new music into station playlists. Breaking the label-radio stronghold will create opportunities for new artists and for radio to be a critical part of changing the system by changing how the system works.
Introduce new music by women, artists of color, and LGBTQIA+ artists during daytime hours so that listeners are exposed to it and become familiar with their voices and stories. The current ecosystem has created barriers around familiarity for these artists through a programming pipeline that is not retaining songs in recurrent programming, limiting their potential for long-term preservation in stations’ gold catalogue records. And while this is the reality for white women, the pipeline is blocked at the entrance for artists of color and LGBTQIA+ artists, whose songs rarely make it into the current rotation pipeline with enough capacity for exposure. These practices create a culture in which their voices are unfamiliar to radio listeners.
Building familiarity through exposure is critical for new artists, to be sure, but it’s equally critical to the current metrics used to evaluate audience response. Audiences cannot respond in favor of music they do not hear during daytime hours or at all within their stations’ playlists, rendering testing data not just incomplete but entirely irrelevant for any assessment of engagement. The use of this flawed data for capturing listener response does not just perpetuate, but is exacerbates inequities and distorts understanding of who is participating in the industry. Reconsidering all practices regarding audience data, assessment of the data, and when that data is providing an accurate picture of the market is essential going forward as current practices are flawed.
While this is a significant moment for the industry, for the format, it is also an opportunity to do the work – to do the deep reading to understand the history of segregation that structures not just the recording industry, but also the radio industry, the chart industry, and how this influences algorithms in digital service providers. It’s an opportunity to be an active participant in the process of an ethical process of reconceptualizing what the industry should be — and that might mean spending more time listening, and less time telling people “how it is” and who “is or is not country.” This will include creating opportunities for Black women in Country music — but not one-off token spins!
Beyoncé’s single deserves airplay and its embrace warrants celebration. But it’s important to remember the legacy of Black women in Country music, whose contributions are being obscured through the media swirl surrounding her Country releases. Not only are their accomplishments being mis-cited, but their careers are being written about as though “discovered” for the first time. The emotional labour and trauma that this inflicts on Black women in country, to watch their careers be erased and resurfaced with every time the spotlight shines on the industry. This happens every time a new Black women emerges within the industry and has been a constant wave since the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. With each moment, Black women are expected to reintroduce themselves. And the labour of individuals (especially Black women) working in this space to document the legacy of Black women in Country music through their work — be it podcasts, curated playlists, writing, and documentaries – is undone. There is a rich body of materials that beautifully captures the history and legacy of Black artists, women in particular, in the Country music industry that is overlooked every time a new media waves takes over.
You’re going to play Beyoncé?
Play Mickey Guyton.
Play Rissi Palmer.
Play Miko Marks.
Play the songs of Black women signed to Country labels – Madeline Edwards and Tiera Kennedy.
Play the women who have been part of CMT’s Next Women of Country — Tanner Adell, Denitia, Julie Williams, Roberta Lea, O.N.E. the Duo, Camille Parker, Brittney Spencer, Chapel Hart, Sacha and Reyna Roberts.
Play women who have been making country music for years with no mainstream support — Yola, Allison Russell, Rhiannon Giddens, Priscilla Renea.
Play emerging artists who have been introduced by Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country.
Spend time getting to know the women of the BlackOpry (some already listed here) and use your platform to introduce the world to these brilliant Black artists.
This will require intentional and sustained support for Black women on a daily basis so that once this Renaissance act ii cycle is over, and Beyoncé’s singles are no longer being played, the format doesn’t return to status quo where songs by Black women represent 0.02% of the annual airplay. Or worse.There can be no change with old machines – with a century-old segregated recording, radio, and chart system that looks back to past practices, conventions, and data to make decisions about the future. This historic data trains the systems (human and algorithmic) in the industry, becoming the tool through which decisions are made on signing, distributing, and promoting music. These data influence the recommendations generated by digital service providers, whose algorithms train on the results of this segregated system. Ever wonder why your favourite DSP recommends songs by white men? Ever wonder by the songs of Black women are only recommended alongside each other and not with the music of white Country artists? All of these recommendations can be traced to the continued segregation of the industry by racialized marketing categories and the continued boxing of artists on playlists that follow these conventions. The past dwells in this old machine, and the 2023 data studied here reveals no signs of change.