Friday, January 12, 2007

Country music struggles to find foreign market

There's an interesting article in The Tennessean about the demise of Country Music sales abroad. The article blames many issues including: illegal downloading as well as the lack of a ready-made network of country radio and TV outlets abroad.

Having had the chance to listen to some "new" country as I had my haircut
the other day, it makes me wonder if one of the commenters on the site may have
hit the nail on the head:

Is it any wonder that Country Music does not sell in other countries? The
content of many songs and the attitude of many of the artists is focused on
the USA being right on every issue and Americans being superior to all
others. This does not go over well in most countries. Country Music is
focused and targeted to a certain part of the US population. If they want to
change that target they have a long ways to change.
There certainly is some validity to this. Perhaps the labels should hire some Mandarin and Cantonese podcasters to start up some Country music podcasts and local radio shows to help boost interest in the regions. Better yet, how about some Chinese country stars? Could that pass in the States?

I'm a big fan of old school Country music, the stuff with the real soul. Hank Williams Sr. and Johnny Cash among others. These are the artists that need to be promoted to help boost sales abroad. Let the people hear where the music came from, that's the best of the best.

D

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