Country Industry Eyes The Beyhive For New Fans

Beyonce

The mainstream country music industry gathered in Nashville recently for the Country Radio Seminar, where genre leaders had plenty to say about Beyoncé, reports The Tennessean.

Her recent country music success spotlights how the genre exists somewhere between continuing business as usual and making strides toward greater inclusivity.

Her single "Texas Hold' Em" continues to top several charts, including Billboard's Hot Country chart. On the country radio chart, the song ranked higher than any Black woman's solo release in 55 years.

R.J. Curtis, the executive director of Country Radio Broadcasters Inc., says he was "pleased and surprised" that country stations have added "Texas Hold' Em" to their rotations. Country music is slowly evolving, he says.

Billboard

"What's deemed acceptable as a 'radio-ready' country song has become a re-normalized expectation to which many of our programmers are slowly adapting," Curtis says. "Also, how that expectation impacts what our listeners believe a mix of songs for radio should sound like — and how many of those are now 'shock to the system' records."

Beyoncé's "Act II" album out March 29 could offer "shocks" comparable to those delivered by rapper-turned-country chart-topper Jelly Roll in the past three years.

Beyoncé's existence within an industry accepting Jelly Roll's blueprint for success as the most sustainable method to urge systemic change gently – and how Beyoncé will likely, in no way, mirror Jelly Roll's strategy at country radio – must be considered.

BMG distributes Jelly Roll's independently made music. As part of its strategy, the label first promoted the artist's ballad "Son of a Sinner" to rock radio because that audience was more open to artists who incorporate hip-hop sounds. But those fans also fit a blue-collar demographic that favors country's rock-driven sounds of the past decade.

"Son of a Sinner" took five months to hit the top five on Billboard's charts measuring alternative, mainstream rock and adult album alternative radio airplay. Two months later, the song reached No. 1 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart.

Beyoncé did not take such an indirect route in her approach to the country music genre.

Curtis says country radio should embrace the tumultuous moment.

"Country music, regardless of the breadth of its influence, still relies upon lyrics and relatable stories to connect to the fanbase," he says. "Artists making music and trying different ways to connect, in those ways, to our fanbase, should be embraced."