Country Artist Discovery Matrix: Who’s “New” Varies by Demo

Scotty McCreery didn’t win Top New Artist at last night’s Billboard Music Awards (Wiz Khalifa did), but his nomination was appropriate enough (Scotty of course was the ACM Best New Artist winner this past April while The Band Perry was the CMA’s New Artist winner in November).  

One of the questions we ask in Albright & O’Malley’s annual online perceptual study ‘Roadmap’ is, “Is there a new country singer or band you’ve discovered in the last 12 months that’s becoming one of your favorites?” This year, 59.9% of respondents answered “Yes” (up from last year’s 56.7%).

Those who answered “Yes” were then asked to name the artist(s) in an open-ended question (top 7 results below).

Not surprisingly, “discovery” varied by demo. 

 

Also not surprising, these ‘discovered’ artists varied by demo as well.

Here are Roadmap 2012’s most frequently mentioned ‘new’ artists by 18-54s with the top demo for each artist highlighted (we asked this question in January of 2012 so the respondents’ frame of reference would be 2011).

Artist	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	18-54
Band Perry	12.4	17.9	13.9	13.1	14.3
Jason Aldean	5.3	11.1	11.8	6.1	8.4
Zac Brown Band	3.2	4.8	10.5	6.9	6.8
Brantley Gilbert	13.4	8.5	6.5	2.9	6.4
Luke Bryan	6.0	6.1	10.5	3.8	6.2
Lady A	5.3	6.5	5.9	5.7	5.9
Scotty McCreery	9.2	5.4	5.5	4.2	5.4

Other artists like Thompson Square and Eric Church had their highest discovery scores 18-24 while the Eli Young Band’s was split 18-24 and 25-34.

An ‘Artist Discovery Matrix’ like this is a good reminder of country’s idverse audience.  

It’s also useful as you consider your overall music-to-target relationship.

And the Winner Is...You! 5 Reasons Why Your Station Should Enter a "Station of the Year" Competition

So maybe you watched Wednesday's CMA Awards Show and wondered if it's worth your time to submit a Station of the Year presentation.

The answer is “Absolutely!”

Here are five reasons why your station should enter:

1.       Assembling a Station of the Year presentation is a bonding opportunity. Whether you win or not, your station and staff reap the benefit of camaraderie.

2.       Sharing your presentation inside the building is a reminder to our non-programming co-workers of how hard we work every day to create the best product in the marketplace, and ideally inspires them with a fresh take on what we do.  

3.       Radio as an industry and country as a format benefit when our best is on display. Recognition by the industry as being among the 'bes of the best' puts your company, station and you in a very positive light.

4.       Assembling a presentation gives you a different perspective on your station and can spark new, creative ideas.

5.      Competing with the format's top stations feels great and, should you ultimately be a finalist or a winner, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you will have frustrated, annoyed, demoralized (or all of the above) your competitors. 

Inspired? There’s no need to wait a year. You can enter the Academy of Country Music awards competition right now.  Submissions are open November 14 through December 9, 2011. Winners will be announced the week of February 13^th, 2012. Learn more here (as you'll see there are other award categories as well).

Sure, entering will take some work. Yes, the competition will be steep.

But check the list - you’ve already a winner the day you submit your entry.