Post by abbey1227 on Jun 2, 2021 2:00:23 GMT
New Study Shows Black Artists Are Underrepresented on Country Radio
By Bobbie Jean Sawyer
A new study by SongData's principal investigator Dr. Jada Watson shows that Black country artists remain underrepresented in country music. In the study, Redlining In Country Music: Representation in the Country Music Industry (2000-2020), Watson examines the last 20 years of country music airplay, noting that only 2.7% of country radio airplay in the last two decades included songs by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) women.
In the study, Watson explains that the report "draws on datasets of the 11,484 songs played on country format radio (2002-2020), the 411 artists signed to the three major Nashville labels (2000-2020), and the 187 artists nominated for Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Awards (2000-2020)."
Watson reports that, overall, BIPOC artists make up less than 4.0% of the commercial country music industry.
Of the 2.3% of the airplay BIPOC have recieved over the last nineteen years, 95.7% were songs by BIPOC men and 2.7% were for songs by BIPOC women - including cross-over artists. The remaining 1.6% were songs by other BIPOC men.
Recently, Darius Rucker's "Beers and Sunshine" hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.
Billboard reports that Kane Brown recently launched his own imprint, 1021 Entertainment, a joint venture with Sony Music Nashville and Sony Music Nashville recently signed African-American artist Willie Jones, who released "American Dream" in January.
Watson noted that in the past 19 years, Black women have not had enough airplay to reach the Top 20 of the chart, which limits opportunities within the country music industry.
Watson notes that these disparities are "not just historic issues, they are contemporary issues."
"This report shows that the industry's business model is a self-fulling prophecy that maintains the white racial framing on which the industry was established in the 1920s," Watson writes.
By Bobbie Jean Sawyer
A new study by SongData's principal investigator Dr. Jada Watson shows that Black country artists remain underrepresented in country music. In the study, Redlining In Country Music: Representation in the Country Music Industry (2000-2020), Watson examines the last 20 years of country music airplay, noting that only 2.7% of country radio airplay in the last two decades included songs by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) women.
In the study, Watson explains that the report "draws on datasets of the 11,484 songs played on country format radio (2002-2020), the 411 artists signed to the three major Nashville labels (2000-2020), and the 187 artists nominated for Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Awards (2000-2020)."
Watson reports that, overall, BIPOC artists make up less than 4.0% of the commercial country music industry.
Of the 2.3% of the airplay BIPOC have recieved over the last nineteen years, 95.7% were songs by BIPOC men and 2.7% were for songs by BIPOC women - including cross-over artists. The remaining 1.6% were songs by other BIPOC men.
Recently, Darius Rucker's "Beers and Sunshine" hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.
Billboard reports that Kane Brown recently launched his own imprint, 1021 Entertainment, a joint venture with Sony Music Nashville and Sony Music Nashville recently signed African-American artist Willie Jones, who released "American Dream" in January.
Watson noted that in the past 19 years, Black women have not had enough airplay to reach the Top 20 of the chart, which limits opportunities within the country music industry.
Watson notes that these disparities are "not just historic issues, they are contemporary issues."
"This report shows that the industry's business model is a self-fulling prophecy that maintains the white racial framing on which the industry was established in the 1920s," Watson writes.
As noted in Ken Burns' Country Music docuseries, it was racial segregation that led the record industry to create the category of "race" records and "hillbilly music," which would later be rebranded as country music -- even though Black and white artists were essentially recording the same music.
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