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Equal Play: The Movement That Won’t Quiet Down Until Radio Listens

Play our f*****g records, please and thank you. Jennifer Nettles arrived at the 2019 CMA Awards in an outfit displaying that very message. It was simple, and it was polite. Nettles, a woman in country music, was asking for the very thing women can’t seem to get: Equal Play.

It’s been almost five years since Tomato-gate, the fateful comment that set country radio on fire. Keith Hill, a radio consultant, compared radio playlists to salads. He said that playing men on the air was equivalent to the lettuce of a salad and that playing women was equivalent to the tomatoes. Because according to Hill, nobody wants tomatoes in their salad. And if they do, they’re just there for the garnish.

carrie Underwood WOmen

Justin Aharoni (@jaharoni) for NYCountry Swag

After that, Martina McBride sold shirts that said “Tomato Lover”; Todd Cassety founded Song Suffragettes, the all-female songwriters round to give new artists a platform; Carrie Underwood took Maddie & Tae and Runaway June out on tour; Bobby Bones dedicated a radio show to female artists; The Highwomen started their own movement. Things may not be quite as bad as they were in 2015, but they’re not much better.

In 2019, Jada Watson of University of Ottawa and the founder of Songdata.co released an astonishing set of data: for every 10 male artists played on country radio, 1 female artist will be played. That includes everyone from Carrie Underwood to the women of Little Big Town. Watson also reported that the top 10 artists of the past two decades consisted of all men.

None of this is new information. Radio has been blocking women from being played for more than 25 years. Radio banned Loretta Lynn’s “The Pill”; they banned the Dixie Chicks, who are perhaps one of the most influential bands of all time, because radio didn’t agree with their politics; and even icon Faith Hill had her own problems with the format.

In a resurfaced video posted by twitter user RachelNorman86, a young Hill recounts an encounter she had with a radio programmer. “I was asking the gentleman all these questions, trying to find out all this information,” she told the interviewer. “And he said, ‘You know, we’re getting a lot of females coming our way here and we’re going to have to cut back on our [per/hour] playlist.’ And I asked him, ‘How many you play right now?’ And he said, ‘I play one an hour.’ And I said, ‘What are you gonna do, play half a song?’ Or one every two hours?” She laughed along with the interviewer, but it’s clear that even then, the gate-keepers were negatively controlling radio.

Country radio’s gender problem is based on myths, such as “women don’t want to hear women”, which is not only offensive but clearly false. Their exclusivity extends beyond gender and stretches all the way to race. While the genre was actually built by people of color, many “gatekeepers” have a problem with diversity. Mickey Guyton, one of the more intriguing newcomers of the past decade, shared her story on Twitter.

“I was told that country radio didn’t want to play 2 ballads by 2 females at the same time. So they played one girl and quit playing mine. It was heartbreaking,” Mickey Guyton shared on Twitter. “I was also told that just because you’re black doesn’t mean your songs have to sound so country. I’ve sang at shows where drunk men were waving their confederate flags right in front where all could see. But I stood there because I deserved to stand there singing my country songs. I can keep going.”

All female country artists have a story like this. It could be about their gender, their race, their lyrics. The obstacles for women in society are already high, and even more so in the entertainment business.

Song Suffragettes and CMT Next Women of Country are two resources that have helped many women. Song Suffragettes launches female singer-songwriters into the Nashville scene, and CMT has special tours and exclusive music video premieres that showcase female talent. Leslie Fram, the senior vice president of CMT, and Todd Cassety, the founder of Song Suffragettes, have done more to change the conversation than all the FM country stations combined.

Last Thursday, January 16th, Kelsea Ballerini, Kacey Musgraves, and more fought back at a Michigan station who claimed they weren’t allowed to play two women back to back – not even Lady Antebellum following Little Big Town. For NYCS’ recap article on the event, click here. This supports Jada Watson’s data set, which stated that 72% of country radio songs by solo male artists, in comparison to the 17.1% solo female artists being played.

“That gives you an idea of the state of [country radio]. It’s not healthy. It’s not where it should be, and that is actually an insight into the condition of where [radio] is at.” Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town told Entertainment Tonight. “We should have a great balance of males and females because everyone has a great story to tell. And there’s so much great music being made by females that we’re not hearing. So, it’s just not good or healthy.”

“Ask yourself: what do you want your daughter to think about herself? If she cannot get that from country music, then we have a problem,” Brandi Carlile told Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal. Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town echoed this sentiment, telling Entertainment Tonight, “[Band members Kimberly and Phillip] are the parents of daughters. If their girls were listening to nothing but country radio, then they would never hear a girl’s story.”

It’s hard to put these problems and feelings into words anymore. It feels like an exhausted subject. How many times can a person ask what seems like a simple question? Women do want to hear women. Men want to hear women. Everyone wants to hear an array of stories and experiences. This doesn’t mean there’s not a place for songs about trucks, but there should also be a place for diversity.

Mainstream music has become complicated. Consumption has changed so drastically that musicians will give into demand over supply. They’re making music instead of creating it; meaning, that instead of letting ideas unfold naturally, they’re writing to a programmed beat and cranking out album after album. It’s less inspired now. It’s possible the gender imbalance is more noticeable now because of the lack of substance in some hit songs.

On January 19th, Pure Country 99 in Kingston, Ontario announced that the station would be committing one week to completely equal airplay for male and female artists. If the mission is a success, more action will be taken. On January 21st, Leslie Fram and CMT announced their #CMTEqualPlay initiative on Twitter. “Effective immediately all music video hours on CMT and CMT Music channels will have complete parity between male and female artists. That means 50/50.”

Play our f*****g records, please and thank you. Jennifer Nettles’ equal play plea is needed now more than ever, and so are Ballerini, Musgraves, and Little Big Town’s enlightening comments. We live in a divided time, and if there’s one thing we can hopefully all agree on, it’s that art and music matter more than ever. There are people out there who need to hear these stories. After five years, it finally feels like things are moving in the right direction. It has taken a long time, but time’s up. We won’t quiet down until radio listens. Please and thank you.

For more information on what you as a listener can do, NYCS has provided a list of websites and resources for you to check out:
WOMAN Nashville, Change the Conversation, Songdata, and Equal Play.

NYCountry Swag is run by two phenomenal women, and by supporting them, you are also supporting women in music.

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2018 CMT Artists of the Year – An Epic Night of Women in Country Music

Carrie Underwood, Runaway June and Maddie & Tae at CMT Artists of the Year ceremony. Photo by Rick Diamond / Getty Images via CMT.com

Carrie Underwood, Runaway June and Maddie & Tae at CMT Artists of the Year ceremony. Photo by Rick Diamond / Getty Images via CMT.com

Wednesday evening (Oct 17.),  in Nashville at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, CMT’s 2018 Artists of the Year ceremony honored women of country, including Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Carrie Underwood, Hillary Scott, Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman, and for Country Artist of a Lifetime Award to Loretta Lynn. It was the perfect step towards changing the conversation to an action of supporting women in country music.

The night started off with Miranda Lambert and her band the Pistol Annies singing their new cut “Sugar Daddy,” which is on their on their upcoming record Interstate Gospel. Lambert voiced her opinion on supporting women in the industry and how we always have to be there for each other.

Kelsea Ballerini joined Alison Krauss to perform a beautiful rendition of Krauss’ classic, “Ghost In This House” and then accepted her award from Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott.

Alison Krauss and Kelsea Ballerini at CMT Artists of the Year ceremony. Photo by Jason Kempin / Getty Images via CMT.com

Alison Krauss and Kelsea Ballerini at CMT Artists of the Year ceremony. Photo by Jason Kempin / Getty Images via CMT.com

“One of the greatest gifts that have been given to me as a new artist on this short journey that I’ve been on so far is having people that I grew up listening to and that I’ve learned from, turn around and reach out their hand to me,” Ballerini said. “They’ve shared their stage with me and shared their platform with me and I think what I’ve learned from that is to lift each other up, to support each other, and to share our stage no matter how big or small it is.”

Maren Morris brought sass and R&B into her performance, where she joined Brandi Carlile on stage to put their own spin on Aretha Franklin’s soulful hit “Natural Woman” in tribute to the legend who passed away earlier this year. Accepting her award from Sheryl Crow, Morris voiced on how thankful she was that CMT was shining the light on the lack of female representation and putting this night together. She also said how she feels that the females in this room are putting out the most compelling and emotional music right now.

Hillary Scott performed with pop star Tori Kelly and gospel singer Kirk Franklin with an inspiring showing of Lady Antebellum’s hit “American Honey,” Kelly’s new single “Never Alone,” and Franklin’s track “Oh Happy Day.” Following Scott, Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild performed with the soulful legend Gladys Knight for a mashup of “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” which brought chills and a standing ovation through the Symphony Center.

Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman with Gladys Knight at CMT Artists of the Year ceremony. Photo by Jason Kempin / Getty Images via CMT.com

A standout moment was when Fairchild humbly included 35 up-and-coming women artists to look out for and support through their new projects in her speech including our past Swag Spotlights, Jillian Jacqueline, Abby Anderson, Tenille Townes, Runaway June, and Natalie Stovall. Take a look at the chilling moment in the video here.

Sadly, Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Loretta Lynn wasn’t able to attend the ceremony to accept her award but her lifetime friend and actress Sissy Spacek was happy and tearful accepting the award on her behalf. Spacek seemed overwhelmingly thrilled and proud to talk about her dear friend and their everlasting friendship.

Lastly, Carrie Underwood brought out her opening acts for her 2019 Cry Pretty 360 Tour, Maddie & Tae, and Runaway June. Underwood began her performance with an acapella version of Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man,” and then Maddie & Tae joined in with “Rockin’ with the Rhythm,” by the Judds. Underwood then continued with a rousing rendition of Martina McBride’s “Independence Day” giving everyone a blast from the past. Runaway June added their touch with singing “Wild One” by Faith Hill. The artists then ended with a powerful performance of Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and harmonizing on Underwood’s single “Cry Pretty.”

CMT gave everyone a taste of what’s to come for females in country music. It was the perfect opportunity to show everyone that the future is female and female artists aren’t going anywhere but up from here.

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here 
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

+ Follow our country music adventures on InstagramTwitter & Facebook: