From Last To Next

Sort of a surprise this week when Garth Brooks announced a July 31st stadium visit to Music City.

He’s played and sold out Nashville many times, but it’s his first stadium show in the city. Expect your internet to slow down at 10am on Friday June 25th when tickets go on sale. These stadium shows now seem to sell out in about an hour, including the 75,000 seats at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

There was a big interview with the G-Man in Billboard about Covid issues and the road. His stadium tour will be the first of that size for any act when he hits Las Vegas on July 10th. Garth will require crew and band to wear facemasks backstage for the rest of the year. Everyone will be vaccinated if they plan to go on the road with him. If you are a crew member that won’t or can’t get the shot, he will pay you to stay home! Garth explains that he does not want to get tour this going only to get it shut down. He plans to test band and crew in Nashville before they hit the road.

Tour announcements have been flying out for weeks. There’s plenty of goodwill going out for the “Reboot” Brooks & Dunn tour with Travis Tritt. It has been 10 years since they hit the road, and I bet they haven’t missed a beat. Their shows were always first class, with so many hits in their war chest.

The big backstage drama story has been the renewal TV rights with the networks and the CMA and ACM Awards.

As the recording business has radically changed with streaming, TV has radically changed with apps. The huge audiences for big event shows have fallen by 50%. The latest night shows are seen more on YouTube as clips than seen live on the networks. It’s just different consumption patterns.

Disney/ABC and the CMA have agreed on an extension through 2026. Hollywood showbiz publications say the CMAs will stay with ABC at $22 million a year. The renewal includes the three-hour CMA Fest show and the two-hour Christmas show. Disney is expected to stream the awards show on Hulu and Disney+. With a ratings crash of 16-plus million in 2014 to 7.1 million in 2020, streaming services had to be added to chase the audience that watches TV show in dozens of ways and places.

The renewal has to be a relief to the CMA folks, as the ACMs are looking for a possible new home after their awards show pitch was reportedly not accepted by CBS.

The ACMs and CBS are a different story from the Disney/ABC situation. CBS reportedly told the show producers that $22 million was not a good number with falling ratings. The show is reportedly being shopped to NBC and others. NBC had the show once. It probably lands back at CBS with a lower program fee, but we shall see.

CBS previously lost the CMA Awards a decade ago during the Les Moonves regime. The sting is still being felt. Cable numbers have always been lower than broadcast numbers.

The “CMT Music Awards” ratings for their most recent show stressed the social media successes. It’s a numbers game, and look at how the CMT show plays on MTV, Logo and several other sister outlets.

Award show burnout for all award shows is the problem. These three-hour mega shows make the powers that be so much money they will try their best to save them. ABC/Disney are a smart, number crunching bunch. They believe in the CMAs, and let’s see what happens later this year.

California and New York are back open. Bosses are telling workers to get back to the office. Commutes and car radio will be back on. Things are different and already more expensive. Buying a car air filter was even a problem in the last week, with heat waves in the West and South. The disease-free summer of 2021? Can’t wait to see how this story comes out.