How Country Music Association is cementing its future by investing in Black artists | Hill

Black country artists BRELAND, Blanco Brown and Kane Brown owned their respective stages at the 2022 CMA Fest last June.

Such a lineup of talented Black artists is a regular occurrence in other genres such as hip-hop or pop, but for country music it is a sign of things to come.

For Black country music fans, seeing a Black artist command a stage during a festival that hasn't always catered to them, says "you matter here."

Representation of artists of color has grown, but the investment is vital to ensure a future where more diverse country music artists have a true stake in the industry.

That's a future CMA is trying to make.

"How do we make sure CMA is future-proofed to be relevant to the artists and young people coming into the profession today?" said CMA CEO Sarah Trahern.

It is a question she has posed to the organization she's led for almost nine years.

This is the third in a series of columns about how country music industry leaders are responding to the racial reckoning in America.

More from LeBron Hill:How Sony Music Nashville is stepping up as a leader in America's racial reckoning | Hill

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How CMA is working to change the conversation

Trahern thinks the work that had to be done after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 began with partnering with experts to establish a pipeline designed to prepare the next wave of talent.

"Rather than doing that all ourselves, who don't have expertise in that area, we should invest and partner with people who do programs to help people get into the pipeline," said Trahern.

The CMA Fest, a Country Music summer extravaganza held annually on downtown Broadway, is a time where the industry's best and brightest can showcase their talent and connect with their fans.

That diversity may surprise some, but not Mia McNeal.

"There can sometimes be the perception that a Black artist would not be appreciated on a CMA stage ... and that wasn't true at all on any of our stages," she said.

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'Sustainable change and growth ... can't be rushed'

In June, the CMA hired McNeal as senior director of industry relations and inclusion a week before CMA Fest. McNeal is excited and energized to bring her experience and knowledge to CMA. She previously owned and ran Ceteris Consulting Group and has worked with companies for two decades, bringing best practices in diversity, equity and inclusion.

"My philosophy is right, not rushed," McNeal said. "The type of sustainable change and growth we want in this organization, where it is in every fabric of what we do can't be rushed. It has to be pragmatic. It has to be thoughtful because inclusion means inclusion, it doesn't mean exclusion of anyone."

McNeal said she hopes CMA's membership will reflect the growing diversity in listenership.

"One of my goals in this role is to expand our membership base," she said. "It's very important for us to make sure that our membership reflects our fans ... because we know that our fans are actually quite diverse."

Statistics from CMA's "Multicultural Opportunity" report show that 26% of the Black population who responded to the survey listen to country music weekly and 23% listen monthly. Research also shows there are 17 million potential Black country music listeners to tap into.

In a 2021 study, musicologist Jada Watson found that over the past two decades, a mere 1.5% of singers with songs on country radio were Black or Indigenous artists of color.

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New CMA partnership with Discovery Education

Trahern and CMA have reached a critical point in their pipeline journey, as just recently the organization announced a partnership with Discovery Education to create a learning program that will "empower students to explore STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) careers within the country music industry."

The program, entitled Working in Harmony: Every Voice is Instrumental, is a grade school initiative that provides students with digital resources to learn about all the different career paths one could take in the Country Music Industry.

"Making sure that you can dream up what is not being laid in front of you is really important," CMA Foundation Executive Director Tiffany Kerns said about the impact the partnership will have in the lives of students.

This is the first time a music-based organization has partnered with Discovery Education.

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Equity 'at the core of what we do'

As a trade association, CMA's purpose is to represent the country music business and the interests of the industry.

"We represent the business, but we are not the business itself," Trahern said.

With 17 categories of membership making up the association, creating spaces where everyone has the ability to thrive is a must for Trahern and the membership team.

"Equity has to be at the core of what we do," CMA Foundation Executive Director Tiffany Kerns said. "We've been thinking for some time how is our membership as equitable as possible?"

In 2019, Trahern said she thought the membership criteria, based on how much a person makes in the country music business, was outdated.

"... Up and coming artists, particularly artists of color may not hit that criteria for a long time, if it had to do with numbers of shows played, numbers of spins on the radio or streams," Trahern said..

Trahern made a staff change in her membership team with a plan in mind to broaden CMA's membership diversity.

Since then, the association has geared up its diversity and inclusion efforts.

Progress is slow in some areas

Membership is where progress happens for CMA. The staff is charged with creating opportunity for the members and seeking out potential members that reflect their values.

There are 6,200 members that currently make up the association, which means 6,200 different ideas and opinions. On multiple occasions, Trahern has spoken to me about leading the association while accepting that not everyone's beliefs will mesh.

In September, when CMA released its list of nominees for their annual awards, surprisingly only one artist of color, BRELAND, was nominated. That number is disappointing, but CMA's nomination process is complex.

"Our hope is that there's the broader reach for people of color nominees going further," Trahern said.

A positive that should be mentioned is that a woman was nominated in every category that wasn't specified for men.

Trahern noted a conversation McNeal held with a group that was applying to be a CMA member and was discouraged by the lack of artists of color nominated.

"If you don't join and you don't have a vote and you don't exercise your vote, you can't be a part of the change," McNeal responded.

Investing in the future results in a better future

In the first piece I wrote in this series covering country music leaders, Sony Music Nashville spoke about potentially doing a youth pipeline.

The establishment of this pipeline aligns perfectly with CMA's goals in diversity, equity and inclusion. The key to a successful DEI work is buy-in from the leadership and organization, and this pipeline will introduce youth to great opportunities and showcase CMA's values.

I'd describe Trahern and the rest of the CMA with one short phrase: they're active. They are constantly present in a city that requires nothing less in order to accomplish your goals, individually or collectively.

The energy I've witnessed over the past four months of reporting this column can be felt in the partnerships they've formed and the progress they continuously strive for.

CMA has taken stock in the future and it looks pretty bright.

LeBron Hill is an opinion columnist for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and the curator of the Black Tennessee Voices Instagram account. Feel free to contact him at LHill@gannett.com or 615-829-2384. Find him on Twitter at @hill_bron or Instagram at @antioniohill12.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Country Music Association cements future by investing in Black artists