Tailgates, Tanlines, Brands & Fans: How CMA Fest Generates A Mass Market Buzz

– Music City:
A Thousand Horses performs at the Chevy Riverfront Stage as part of 2017’s CMA Fest, which takes over downtown Nashville this week.

Carrie. Luke. Blake. Dierks. Aldean. Stapleton. Urban. Plus Kelsea, Darius, Hunter, Cam, Kane, Lauren, Carly, Pardi, Brett (Eldredge and Young), Chase, Cole, Granger, Dustin, Raelynn, Casadee, Canaan, Easton and Maddie & Tae. And close to 300 more artists packed into four non-stop days and nights.

In a world where country festivals are the new norm, Nashville’s CMA Music Fest, which kicks off June 7 and runs through June 10, remains singular by deepening the star/fan experience. 

Working from its circa 1972 Fan Fair roots, the Country Music Association’s 20th century forerunner held at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, CMA Music Fest maintains the artists’ hands-on, we-see-you experience.

There are Fan Club get-togethers, brand activations, including HGTV’s always packed Lodge, pop-up shops, Artist of the Day interviews, meet & greets, photo ops and a convention center filled with booths for autographs.

“It’s a destination,” says Sony EVP New Business Strategy and Marketing John Zarling. “The fans come with such a different mindset: connect and engage.

“They believe they’re part of the music’s history, because they’ve heard about Garth Brooks signing autographs for 24 straight hours. They know incredible things can happen.”

Sony Nashville, like Big Machine, Broken Bow, Universal Music Group and Warner among others, is hosting a booth.

Serving as a central point for their artists, Zarling sees it as a place for young artists to be close to legends, sell CDs and classic vinyl and create a sense of culture and community around the label’s artists.

That community is what drives both the event and the ABC special filmed over four nights at Nissan Stadium.

Executive Producer Robert Deaton explains, “This is about the fans! If this were a play, they’re co-stars. Because when you see that passion, you can’t turn away. When people tune in, I want it to be the party you want to go to because of the people, and that idea of what you missed.”

Deaton, who also produces The Billboard Music Awards, is the man who creates moments.

He put a brand-new Gretchen Wilson onstage at the stadium driving a four-wheeler as “Redneck Woman” was breaking, as well as getting Nissan Stadium pin-drop quiet for Cam with Lady Antebellum on a quiet “Burning House.”

“I was up in the third tier (for Cam with Lady A),” recalls CMA chief Sarah Trahern. “It was minimal, but the fans were just enthralled. You could feel it.

“Those are the moments we seek to deliver, where the artists and the music come together in a way that transcends each of the elements. People remember.”

With 11 stages, seven with free entertainment, and 350-plus artists, there is music from everywhere across the fame spectrum.

Beyond the superstars, there are award-winning heritage acts like Restless Heart, Shenandoah, and Larry Gatlin on Budweiser’s Country Forever Stage, brand new acts on the Chevy Breakout Stage and in-between artists, including Scotty McCreary, Jon Pardi and Eric Paslay on the River Front Stage.

Last year, Field & Stream presented a pop-up concert with Jason Aldean, while the Budweiser Dome rocked a Lady Antebellum album release event.

This year, Pepsi kicks off its partnership with Dierks Bentley via a surprise appearance with a legend at the stadium concert. It’s all about creating buzz and branding for a mass market country audience.

As People Executive Editor Cynthia Sanz says of MusicFest’s lure, “People may be a glossy celebrity weekly, but it’s read by people across the country, people who love country music.

“A lot of people on the coasts have no idea how big these country stars are; some of the media in New York City may not realize who a country artist is, but see they’re selling out Madison Square Garden or the Meadowlands, which are rock star numbers. They’re wondering, ‘How did they do that?’

“Anybody with a brand who goes down there, they see how many people there are, how passionate they are – and how loyal. They’re stunned, but they get it.”

Budweiser Music Manager Taylor Eickenhorst is a big believer. Beyond sponsoring the Forever Country Stage, they will again open a Country Club to showcase younger artists where Florida Georgia Line has actually popped up and served drinks to the fans.

She believes consistency is the key to a good CMA Music Fest brand experience.

“Year after year, we’ve been showing up, and now people expect to see us,” Eickenhorst says. “When the Country Club is packed, and you can barely walk through because people are having so much fun, that’s what our brand is about. Then you walk over to the Forever Country Stage, and see all those people enjoying themselves in a different way, it speaks to what Budweiser represents.”

With 350 artists showcasing and just under 90,000 people in the footprint every day, you’re talking country music exposure to fans from all 50 states and more than two dozen countries.

When you add the ABC “CMA Fest” prime-time special, which reached 5.7 million viewers last year, the ripples ripple. The international exposure is also a big thing for CMA, given its commitment to the C2C Festival in the U.K. and Ireland.

“It’s such a full-on experience for the fan, even the ones who can see these acts all year ‘round,” says BBC-2 Producer Mark Hagen, who’s been attending for two decades and covering the event consistently since 2009.

“Imagine how it is for the U.K. fan who has such limited access to live country shows?

“They come home, and that excitement spills over onto the events and fans here…

“It’s a proper snapshot of where country music is, and a good sense of where it will be in 2019.”

Trahern understands. In Brisbane this spring for a country festival, she struck up a conversation with two women fans.

Asking if they’d ever been to the States, one explained she’d gone the last three years for Music Fest – and came home watching 

for the new stars to happen.

“I can’t imagine what they’ll think if they see me somewhere introducing an act,” the CMA leader muses.

“But that’s why we do what we do: get people to understand what this music is. Whether it’s the streaming lounge to show our fans all the ways they can consume this music, the Breakout Stage where they can hear an artist who doesn’t have a manager or a label yet, or the money we raise for the CMA Foundation, which goes into our Music in Schools program, Music Fest is about bringing people together, making memories and letting the music do what it’s supposed to.”

For Sanz, also the founding editor of People Country, it’s really about how committed the stars are to the fans.

She recalls, “A few years ago, they had to evacuate the stadium because of tornados.

“Some people left. But most people didn’t, because they knew the stars weren’t gonna leave them. And once the storm passed, sure enough, Brad [Paisley] came back and finished his set. He’d come to play for the fans, and they knew he would.”