Maybe it’s a good thing the Country Music Association’s board of directors were headed to San Antonio for a board meeting this week. That way they’ll miss the projectiles. On the agenda for CMA officials was the possibility of taking its televised awards show on the road. The most oft-mentioned destination is Atlanta, where there have been meetings and where several Atlantans have expressed interest in playing host.
But as news of a potential move has surfaced, everyone from Nashville’s mayor on down has expressed concern, regret and other sentiments too strong to print here. Most city leaders say that losing an awards show honoring the city’s most visible industry would mean a huge black eye for Nashville.
“Country music has been an important part of our past, and is going to be a critical part of our future,” says a diplomatic Mayor Bill Purcell, who huddled with key players from the CMA earlier this week to discuss the show’s future. “I very much want the CMA awards show to be here and to continue to build the relationship that is important to both of us.”
Others are more blunt.
“It’s an insult, and it’s embarrassing to have to answer to this,” says Butch Spyridon, executive vice president of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, who adds that the loss would be considerable. “It’s the parties, the hotel rooms and the sense of celebrities spending a glamorous week in Nashville. These kind of weeks only take place in two other cities in the country, L.A. and New York. It puts us in a distinct category as an entertainment destination.”
Some prominent CMA board members also openly disagree with the idea. “I would just hope it doesn’t happen,” says Bill Denny, the former president of Nashville Gas with long ties to Music Row. “I think the show should stay in Nashville.”
A top Metro official puts it this way: “How would L.A. feel if they lost the Oscars? Or Broadway feel if they lost the Tonys?”
CMA executive director Ed Benson hastens to point out that discussions about a move are “strategic” only. No proposal is on the table from any party, he says, and criticizing the move is much too premature.
“The reason this idea is being advanced as a strategic discussion is to have a positive impact on our industry,” Benson says. “There’s not been any discussion except for the possibility of occasionally taking the awards out from time to time.”
Why?
With country music CD sales slipping, the CMA some time ago began considering several ideas to ramp up its marketing and overhaul some of its content. As part of this overall thinking, one consideration was moving Fan Fair from the State Fairgrounds to downtown Nashville, which it did last summer. Few would argue with the results: Four-day attendance for 2001, according to CMA officials, was the largest in the event’s history.
Meanwhile, the CMA also considered moving the awards show to another city. To hear Benson tell it, the positives include stimulating consumer interest in another market, offering potential tie-ins with different media partners, and engaging a different base of corporate sponsors. As well, Benson says that because many CMA members are in national and international markets outside of Nashville, it might make sense to “engage with those members and make them feel part of a national organization.”
“The home base of our industry and for the show is Nashville,” Benson insists. “But if the strategy serves to help strengthen the industry, then we feel that will benefit the city.”
According to city officials, various CMA representatives met with the mayor about a year ago to discuss the show pulling up stakes. But Metro officials had hoped the idea had evaporated.
Then several months ago CMA officials traveled to Atlanta. “It was the end of November, first of December, we had an invitation from these interested parties in Atlanta, and we sent a small delegation down there to have a meeting,” Benson says. “We were able to assess a strong interest from people in Atlanta.” Included in the meetings were officials from AOL/Time Warner.
The idea of moving the show specifically to Atlanta, Benson stresses, is not on the agenda for this week’s board meeting in San Antonio. But, he says, the CMA’s 16-member executive council, which has been investigating the idea of taking the show elsewhere, has determined that the topic generally should be discussed by the full board. “Then we will either decide to pursue it or not,” Benson says.
Asked if he understood the negative feelings city leaders have about the idea, Benson says, “You’re talking about an awfully big 'if,’ because it’s just at a strategic level.” But Benson acknowledges that “the mayor doesn’t like the idea any way you cut it. But we have kept the mayor advised about it.”
The CMA Awards show, held every October, is a resplendent study in rhinestones and sequins, honoring the finest in country music for the past year. In conjunction, there are a number of record label parties and banquets that, taken as a whole, comprise “CMA Week.” Basically, it’s work for Music Row, but only of the most meaningless sort.
Begun in 1968, the CMA Awards show is the longest running televised music awards show in existence. The host is Gaylord’s Grand Ole Opry, whose officials are also of a negative mind about a potential move.
“As the most important country music awards show that takes place on an annual basis, it would be unfortunate for that not to be based in Music City,” says Grand Ole Opry president Steve Buchanan. “The CMA has a responsibility to promote country music and to try and broaden the appeal and the audience. But ultimately the show is the vehicle with which to accomplish that. There are other ways to grow overall market share...rather than by moving the show.”
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