Despite the stereotype of country music only appealing to “rural folks,” recently it has started to expand its appeal to more varied socioeconomic, cultural, and musical groups.
As country music singers and musicians begin collaborating with artists across other genres, Nashville, TN ceases to be the only epicenter for country music and the contemporary country music fan-base grows.
Country music’s expansion has made the growing country music fan-base an appealing demographic for many marketers. The country music industry’s recent transformation in market strategy from niche to wide-ranging is a good example of how any industry can benefit from collaborations or partnerships.
In November 2013, the Zac Brown Band, one of country music’s top-selling acts, shared the stage with The Foo Fighters’ front man Dave Grohl at the Country Music Association Awards. In both a metaphorical and literal sense, this collaboration solidified the ties between rock and country music. The unlikely pairing between the homegrown, laidback music of the Zac Brown Band with the Foo Fighter’s guitar-heavy rock music resulted in a sound that definitely wasn’t your grandpa’s country music, and was one of several projects that set the stage for a new era of the country music market strategy.
Similarly, country music has secured ties with the rap industry through collaborations such as Florida Georgia Line ft. Nelly’s “Cruise” and Brad Paisley and LL Cool J’s peculiar “Accidental Racist.” With country music’s growth in appeal across all levels of social, cultural, and musical preferences, many companies have already begun to jump on this market strategy bandwagon by attempting to “sell their wares” to this burgeoning county music loving demographic. In recent years, the Country Music Association (CMA) has garnered several year-round partnerships with leading brands such as American Airlines, Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, Patrón, and Chevrolet. These companies are leveraging this boom in country music’s popularity in order to promote their own businesses; the most notable example being Las Vegas based Patrón Spirits Co. sponsoring the official CMA Awards after-party (you may also know Patrón as rapper Lil Jon’s preferred beverage).
The partnership between the CMA and Patrón has been fruitful, according to the Vice President of corporate communications at the Patrón Spirits Company, Greg Cohen. In a recent interview he stated, “We keep our marketing pretty broad, and we know that older people and younger people listen to country, and people in cities and rural areas listen to country, so it’s been a great partnership with the CMA.”
Kidde Fire Safety, a company strikingly different from Patrón, has also formed a rewarding partnership with CMA. Kidde’s President Jim Ward was quoted saying, “We’re looking to get to moms, in particular, and the appeal of country music now is no longer just a regional phenomenon. It’s a national phenomenon and its appeals continues to grow.” This goes to show that unlike other genres which may have appealed to only one “buyer persona” country music’s sphere of influence has permeated many different market segments, making it highly attractive to advertisers and marketers. For anyone trying to come up with a market strategy, this phenomenon is a good reminder of how “crossing borders" is always an effective way to increase your customer-base!
As country music becomes more prominent in popular culture, expect to see marketers leveraging this cultural shift to increase their company’s market share. All in all, this development should make for interesting years to come for both marketers and music lovers alike. A Faith Hill and Lil Jon collaboration may truly not be too far off in the near future. And you can best believe they will both be backed by Lil Jon’s favorite tequila brand!