The Country Music Association's CMA Fest has been experiencing a growth trend since relocating to Downtown Nashville in 2001.
Last year, the festival had 90,000 visitors a day for the first time, and local media reported it would match those numbers in the 2024 edition, held June 6-9.
But the most obvious development at this year's festival was the growing presence of “barroom takeovers.” From Spotify to iHeartMedia to Warner Music Nashville and beyond Advertising sign, at least 11 labels, booking agencies and other organizations rented out performance venues — or even entire buildings — for a series of extracurricular concerts. In some cases, artists played shows at these venues in addition to their official CMA Fest activities. In other cases, artists were sidelined without appearing at a sanctioned CMA event.
The rise of these ancillary events is a natural progression of the booming business in artist-affiliated bars. In the last year alone, Garth Brooks, Eric Church and Morgan Wallen have opened all the doors to new clubs along Lower Broadway, and Laney Wilson took over FGL House from Florida Georgia Linerenamed Bell Bottoms Up. Bon Jovi even opened a new bar during the festival.
These locations offer a ready place on the edge of the festival footprint for businesses looking to market to core fans. So CAA took over the weekly Skydeck Whiskey Jam for one night, Big Machine Label Group offered daytime shows at the Wilson club, and Sony Music Nashville took over Acme Feed and Seed with its Camp Sony at the same intersection where CMA Fest hosted the Its Hard Rock. Stage and Riverfront Stage. It's beneficial for the company, the fans and the artists as well.
“Being there at the end where all the action happens helps drive foot traffic,” SMN SVP Marketing Jennifer Way says. “It helps to catch artists this [play] a show and then he can just show up at the bar.”
Not that additional shows are limited to the duration of the festival or the Downtown footprint. WME held its annual three-night Losers Live at a bar on the edge of Music Row, about a mile and a half away, June 3-5. Randy Houser, Brantley Gilbert and Mark Chesnutt headlining three nights, all playing for free to impress country fans and other industry members alike.
“A lot of people arrive in Nashville before CMA Fest officially starts and travel from all over the world to hear live music,” says WME's country music agent. Carter Green. “So WME and Losers are giving the people what they want.”
The volume is impressive. While the festival itself featured more than 300 artist performances, Spotify House featured 40 acts — including VRLANDIA, Tyler Hubbard and Dustin Lynch — during its three-day run at Blake Shelton-relative Ole Red. SiriusXM booked 56 artists for four days in Margaritaville for performances and/or interviews, including Laney Wilson, Jake Owen and Riley Green.
“This is definitely the only genre that could pull this off the way we pull it off because all the artists are so punctual, on time or early,” SiriusXM VP of Strategy, Operations and Artist and Industry Relations Alina Thompson says. “We were in the program all four days and I was so grateful to every artist and every group of artists that came through the door.”
The opportunities, however, also represent a potential long-term problem. Several veteran music executives grumbled that the festival's official daytime stages lacked some of the star power they'd boasted in years past, though that's a direct result of the country's current popularity. At least 50 artists — incl Kenny Chesney, Luke Combs, Kane Brown and HARDY — played as many as four out-of-town shows during the four-day CMA Fest. Many bookings were made at the Carolina Country Music festival, which coincides with CMA Fest in Myrtle Beach, SC Some of these acts returned for the Nashville event. Some don't.
This is not a new development, but combined with artists choosing to play in nearby clubs, it meant that the smaller stages had a higher volume of acts unfamiliar to many festival-goers.
This is not to say that the festival is facing some kind of impending doom or that it represents a long-term trend.
“I think it changes from year to year,” Carter says. “If people feel that way this year, it could change next year and you could have all the biggest acts in the country at that time playing during the day.”
The artists' view of the festival is linked to their position in the food chain. It's great exposure for actors who haven't made it into the commercial mainstream — Wyatt Flores and Putin (K. Michel), for example, attracted attention with many appearances. But the artists play for free and the headliners are key to attracting thousands of fans whose ticket costs help music education charities.
“If you're a younger artist, you need to be there,” says SiriusXM/Pandora VP of music programming — country Johnny Chiang. “A-listers or B-plus artists, it's not as much a necessity to do it. It's just a way for them to give back. There is a different perspective.”
In most cases, artists and ancillary businesses seem to reject the CMA in booking artists, a sign that the industry supports the festival's mission.
“The CMA usually gets all the things planned first,” says Way. “We don't really confirm the exact unique experience or fan activation until the stages close, until the artist knows where they're going to be.”
Meanwhile, if barroom takeovers take too much away from the CMA's business, Chiang suggests it might be effective for the organization to “go deeper” with the informal groups, many of which are already partners in some way. .
“At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if it's in one of their tents or one of our bars,” says Chiang. “What you're talking about is still promoting country music and the CMA.”
Sign up to Billboard Country Updatethe industry's must-have source for news, charts, analysis and features. Sign up for free delivery every weekend.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/nashville-barroom-takeovers-cma-fest/
