Sandbox Guide: Country Music Marketing

The latest edition of Music Ally’s Sandbox Guide has arrived, and i’m thrilled to have written the lead feature for it - focussing on Country Music Marketing in 2023, with case studies provided by Miranda Lambert’s team, as well as TikTok, mTheory and Powerhouse Entertainment.

A big thank you to everyone who took part - the full feature can be accessed now via the Music Ally website.

Country is a powerhouse of a music genre, traditionally drawing huge live crowds, raking in revenue through ticket and record sales, merch and meet and greets, as its megastars rule the airwaves across hundreds of dedicated US radio stations. So if it ain’t broke… why not make it bigger?

The country genre has taken hugely successful steps into the streaming space in recent years, with expansion taking place at a dizzying pace. Speaking to the Digital Media Association earlier this year, Apple Music’s Jay Liepis (Business Partnerships - Nashville) shared the scale at which this particular genre is capturing the hearts and ears of streamers: “From 2020 to 2022, country music saw a growth in streams nearly three times the rate of growth for hip-hop, and also faster than growth for Pop, R&B, Alternative and other major genres.”

Country music in 2023 hits different – so how are artist teams engaging fans and expanding audiences? What does this look like in streaming terms? And what are the tips and marketing tricks that are helping to make country music stars some of the most successful artists in the world?