News & Publications
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 1997
1997 Wrap-Up: Country Music Industry Stable
Country Music Growing in the International Marketplace, Corporate America
NASHVILLE - In addition to the CMA consumer survey recently released in which 51 percent of Country Music listeners said they are listening to the music more in the last year, there are further indications that Country is alive and well.
- According to AMUSEMENT BUSINESS, three Country artists ranked among the overall top 10 U.S. touring acts of the year (Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn).
- Country remains the leading radio format in number of stations. As of November 1997, there are 2,505 primary Country stations, followed by News/Talk with 1,567 and Adult Contemporary with 917. (M Street Corporation)
- Each week, over 45 million Americans listen to Country Radio stations nationwide, leading the second-largest listenership format (Adult Contemporary) by over 7 million. (SMRB)
- Garth Brooks’ album, SEVENS, sold 896,932 units in its first week. Only Pearl Jam’s 1993 release, VS., sold more albums in its first week with 950,000, and only five albums have sold more than 700,000 in the first week since Soundscan began reporting in 1991. SEVENS is the fourth album of Brooks to debut at No. 1 on BILLBOARD magazine’s "Billboard 200" pop album chart.
- Shania Twain becomes one of four female recording artists to hit the 10 million mark with sales of a single album in the U.S. The other women to share this distinction are Carole King, Whitney Houston and Alanis Morissette. To date, Twain’s Mercury Records 1995 release, THE WOMAN IN ME, has sold 12 million copies worldwide. Her third album, COME ON OVER, was released in November and has already sold over 1 million albums according to Soundscan.
- George Strait’s box set, STRAIT OUT OF THE BOX, has been certified multi-platinum with sales of 5 million, making it the third biggest selling box set of all time trailing only BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND LIVE/ 1977-85 (12 million) and Led Zepplin’s self-titled set (6 million).
- LeAnn Rimes is the top recording artist in all genres in 1997, according to the RIAA, with combined certified sales of 12.5 million units. This includes 2 million copies of her single, "How Do I Live". Her success and appeal across all musical genres was further evidenced with her Grammy win as best new artist and when she won artist of the year at the 1997 Billboard Music Awards.
- Garth Brooks’ now legendary August concert in New York’s Central Park was broadcast by HBO and was the most watched special on cable TV in 1997.
- Going head-to-head against season premiere night on ABC and NBC, "The 31st Annual CMA Awards", telecast live September 24 on the CBS Television Network, placed first for the night in households, viewers and all adult demographics. The annual live CBS special broadcast 8-11 PM (EDT) won every half-hour among households and adults 25-54.
- Hollywood has tapped Country Music again in 1997. Soundtracks such as Steven Seagal’s "Fire Down Below", Dennis Quaide and Danny Glover’s "Switchback", the animated film "Annabelle’s Wish" and Robert Duvall’s "The Apostle" all feature Country Music. In addition, Deana Carter released a video for her song "Once Upon A December" off the soundtrack for the animated movie "Anastasia". Trisha Yearwood’s track of "How Do I Live" is featured on the soundtrack of "Con Air", while Mary Chapin Carpenter covered Dionne Warwick’s classic "What Do You Get When You Fall In Love" on the soundtrack of the popular summer movie "My Best Friend’s Wedding", starring Julia Roberts.
- This year, the CMA debuted its first-ever CMA Awards webcast to coincide with the popular televised special taking cybersurfers behind-the-scenes during pre-event rehearsals, backstage activities, as well as the post-awards party. The webcast included artist photos, chats, backstage interviews, and a trivia contest. The CMA Awards webcast was proven a huge success with 11 million hits.
- Movie moguls Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg invested in the Country Music industry opening Dreamworks Records, while the world’s number-one entertainment company, Disney, opened its first Country Music label, Lyric Street Records. Both are based in Nashville.
- The 26th Annual International Country Music Fan Fair sold out in advance for the seventh consecutive year.
- The sold-out "Music Industry & New Technologies" (MINT) conference developed by the Country Music Association was the first Nashville conference to explore the Internet, websites, multimedia, hardware and other applications to market Country Music.
Corporate America further strengthened its ties with Country Music in 1997:
- Once again, over 200 registrants including representatives from American Airlines, Blockbuster, Coca-Cola, Lifestyle Marketing Group, Nabisco, Time Warner Cable Direct and UniRoyal Tire, attended the second annual Marketing With Country Music conference presented by the CMA to familiarize marketing and advertising industry decision-makers on opportunities available with Country Music to meet brand marketing objectives.
- During 1997, Country artists have been involved in a wide variety of national ads and corporate promotions including Coca-Cola, Chevy Trucks, Justin Boots, Ford, 1-800-COLLECT, Folgers Coffee, Discover Card, the GAP, Southwest Airlines and Wrangler.
- Mobil 1 sponsored the Reba McEntire/Brooks & Dunn tour, marking the first time a major petroleum company has backed a musical event.
- Primestar, one of the nation’s leading providers of satellite television and entertainment, will continue its 1997 sponsorship with Clay Walker throughout 1998. For the second straight year, Alison Krauss &
- Union Station have linked up with Martha White Foods. For his first-ever sponsored tour, Vince Gill joined forces with Kraft this year for the Kraft Country Tour ’97.
- Target and Capitol Nashville recently enlisted John Berry to help promote "Club Wedd," the retail chain’s in-store, computerized bridal registry. The sweepstakes was promoted via in-store promotions, point-of-sale and print advertising.
- Billed as the largest single-day ticket event in music history, Fruit of the Loom, Inc. drew an estimated 220,000 Country Music fans to the Dallas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
The international marketplace’s interest in Country Music is evident in 1997:
- Since 1982 when CMA’s first international office opened in the U.K., Country Music has grown significantly in the international marketplace. In 1997, CMA appointed new full-time representatives for the U.K./Ireland, as well as Germany/Switzerland/Austria joining CMA’s Benelux representative. CMA’s first representative for Australia was also appointed.
- A high-profile retail and media campaign surrounding BBC-2’s telecast of the 1997 CMA Awards on September 28 resulted in a significant increase in Country Music sales in the UK and Ireland according to retailers there. Trisha Yearwood’s SONGBOOK: A COLLECTION OF HITS garnered an 84-percent increase over the previous week’s sales, while works by LeAnn Rimes, Deana Carter and George Strait earned significant increases as well. Over 2.5 million viewers tuned in to at least part of the Awards program.
- "The 31st Annual CMA Awards" were televised in more countries than ever before including the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Thailand, Holland, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
- Nationally networked BBC Radio 2 launched the first-ever Country Music Week, which included a live broadcast of the CMA Awards.
- Trisha Yearwood’s "How Do I Live" has become a huge radio hit in Australia, Ireland and Asia Pacific regions.
- Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood and Shania Twain all scored gold albums in Australia while LeAnn Rimes has been certified Triple Platinum for sales of over 210,000.
- Over 560 radio programs outside North America feature Country Music, reaching over 30 million listeners in 32 countries.
Founded in 1958, the Country Music Association was the first trade organization formed to promote a type of music. More than 7,000 music industry professionals and companies from 41 countries around the world are members of CMA. The organization’s objectives are to guide and enhance the development of Country Music and to demonstrate it as a viable medium to advertisers, consumers and media throughout the world.