Global expansion of Country music is part of the year-round mission of Country Music Association (CMA). Today’s CMA staff will be on-hand to reveal international Country statistics and discuss their efforts to spread the genre throughout the world — from Mexico to Canada to Australia.
CMA and UMG Nashville’s Annie Ortmeier will team up to take you on an exploration of Forever Country — a first of its kind multi-generational, multi-artist, multi-label Country music single and video to commemorate the 50th CMA Awards broadcast. The song encompassed three timeless classics, ‘On The Road Again,’ ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ and ‘I Will Always Love You’ in a combined arrangement by award winning producer, Shane McAnally. The completed project featured 30 artists across all eras of country music and included a surreal video directed by award winning director, Joseph Khan. The release of the single and subsequent video coupled with the efforts of the entire industry escalated the song and the video to new heights internationally with distribution to new territories that helped propel the track onto several iTunes, Spotify and Amazon charts globally.
This session and case study takes a deeper look at Forever Country and the impact on overall International audiences and adoption of country music globally prior to, during, and since release with research from the CMA and Universal Music Group Nashville.