...Did you hear what I heard?

As an artist, I can’t imagine any greater pat on the back than winning the Entertainer of the Year award. While hoards of loyal fans watch on the television, all of the industry gathers to witness this top honor. How exciting it must be for the performer(s) that achieve this feather in their cap. The list of nominations for this award is rather impressive- Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, George Strait, Sugarland and Keith Urban. Each artist brings so much to the table with them that it must be rather difficult for the voting members to decide. The ACM website lists what is taken into account for this category and I would think that the CMA criterion is very close to this as well.

1. Success at radio
2. Sales of prerecorded music
3. Success of music videos
4. Live concert ticket sales
5. Artistic merit
6. Appearances on television
7. Appearances in films
8. Songwriting
9. Writing
10. Contributions to the country music industry

That’s a lot of information to consider when voting for the nominees. I wondered who I would vote for based on the above items, so I did a bit of research to see who did what in 2007-2008. It took me a while to get to some of the statistics but you gotta love the internet!

Album sales: depending on the site, the top album sales will very a little but overall they seem to have Carrie Underwood as the top seller. I realize that Carrie was not nominated for this award, but it is worth mentioning that, in fact, she had 2 albums in the top 10 by the end of last year. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Keith toured with her. Rascal Flatts had 2 in the top 10 as well by the end of the year. Rounding out the top 5 were Taylor Swift, troubled crooner Keith, and then Sugarland.

Concert ticket sales: Kenny, Tim & Faith, Martina, Rascal Flatts and Toby certainly did their part to make sure country music took a chunk of those dollars. Our spray-on-tan guitarist was not on this list NOR was he on the top touring acts list NOR the top earners list according to Forbes.

Sales of prerecorded music: look for some of the same top guns to pop out here. Again, minus the new baby daddy.

Songwriting and artistic merit: very interesting category, in my opinion. This area should include music that satisfies the artist and excites the fan base. The real fan base, not the “here today, gone tomorrow” types that vanish when the newest thing hits the airwaves. When an artist is interviewed saying that he’s not sure if the music on his new CD is exactly what he wanted to convey, but was talked into releasing it, one has to wonder who the CD is being released for - media outlets or the fans? I don’t mean an artist that wants to push the envelope and challenge themselves musically. Rather, the artist who was talked into releasing music that he knew was not his best effort. Yes, I’m referring to the “Pain” CD here.

Success at radio: according to Country Aircheck, Mr. Kidman was not in the top ten for the year, but Kenny, Carrie, Taylor, Brad and George were. Hey, and so was Gary Allan…imagine that.

Has the globe trotter shown the most overall success in the country music industry during the preceding calendar year? This is the bottom line question of the big night.

In this bloggers opinion, Keith doesn’t deserve the EOTY award this time around. Maybe that will give him time to remember that his fans, not his wife, make his career. He can’t behave like a “big star” and then expect anything from the “little people.” Has the man moved so far away from the musician that he has forgotten the lessons of the early days?

There is a quote that goes something like this (I am paraphrasing here)…if you forget the past, it is bound to be repeated…

Oh well, I digress, but I’ll be popping my popcorn and watching on November 12th.

How about you?