CMT: a touch of Americana in Beijing.

Country Music TV conquers the world

Today, thanks in part to CMT: Country Music Television, country music is becoming more popular than ever in the U.S. and internationally.

Americana is still a central theme of county music; however, nowadays, messages about everything from unemployment to child abuse also pervade the music. Singers like. Mary Chapin Carpenter are capturing female audiences around the world with their captivating voices and hard-hitting, real-life lyrics about relationships. In the U.K., Carpenter's record sales have increased tenfold in the last two years due to CMT in Europe. Ed Benson, executive director of the Country Music Association, said that the most important international aspect of development in country music is in Europe. "The reaction CMT is getting in Europe is phenomenal. People have never seen any of today's country music, and they are getting hooked on it."

CMT is growing fast. Since its launch in 1983, the basic cable network, which is jointly owned by Gaylord Entertainment Company and Group W Satellite Communications, has grown to reach more than 30 million television homes in the U.S. and is spreading into other regions in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

CMT's international penetration has reached 38 million television homes: it launched in Europe in October 1992, in the Asia Pacific region in 1994 and in Latin America in April 1995. Recently, CMT and Brazil's TV Abril (TVA) signed a long-term agreement granting TVA the right to distribute CMT to its owned and managed cable and MMDS systems as well as to TVA affiliates in cable and MMDS throughout the country. Tom Hawley, vp of International Distribution and Special Markets, said that Brazil will be a very strong market for CMT since the region already has a Brazilian version of country music that is popular throughout the country. Lloyd Werner, executive vp of Sales and Marketing for Group W, noted that although the name "Country Music" doesn't mean much in foreign countries like Brazil, "it is the American background that is essential, thus allowing the music to transcend the name."

Hawley's job is to sell the CMT network internationally. The basic service is mainly advertiser-supported in the U.S. and receives most of its revenue abroad from subscriber fees and from the license fees paid by the various distributors gaming clearance from CMT. "Of course overseas there is not a lot of revenue from advertisers yet," Hawley allowed. "Most of our income is from subscribers fees, but obviously we hope to increase our advertiser base internationally to eventually match what our domestic end brings in." The service is uplinked to Europe from CMT's satellite in Nashville, Tennessee, and uplinked to the Asia regions from California and to Latin America from Miami.

Last May, the company launched a $5.1 million advertising and promotion campaign in the U.K. to increase awareness and viewership among CMT's target audience: upmarket women ages 18-49. Results of four focus groups conducted in the U.K. indicated that a typical CMT viewer is a young woman who appreciates America's wide open spaces, freedom and the romantic fantasies depicted in country music lyrics.

Not surprisingly, the Asian region, Japan in particular, has been a tougher sell for CMT, although, due to the lack of programming in Japan, CMT fills a void. So far, wherever CMT has aired a demand has been created, prompting familiarity with the music, desire to buy the music and the artists to travel overseas. Werner said that CMT is also making inroads in China, where CMT videos seem to be acceptable as their content isn't political, sexual or violent.

"It definitely is a country-by-country situation," noted Hawley. He said that in Asia CMT may change its current programming to some extent to allow Asian artists to be highlighted. "At some point one needs to tailor programming to meet the local needs, but American country music must be the backbone of the programming." In addition to China, penetrating India is part of CMT's long-term strategy. In the short-term, the company hopes to work in Taiwan as it already has a thriving cable industry in place. Hawley acknowledged that New Zealand and Australia have their complexities, especially Australia where regulatory problems abound.

Recently, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in effect kicked CMT out of the running of services eligible for carriage by Canadian cable operators and gave precedence to the Canadian-owned country music channel, New Country Network. CMT, which had been available in Canada since 1984, fought back. Canada has since reached an agreement with the Canadian owner of the New Country Network whereby CMT will join forces with the network to operate a single 24-hour Canadian country music network to be called CMT: Country Music Television (Canada). CMT will hold a 20 percent stake in the new service.

In addition to building its presence around the world, CMT is also building the reputations of its artists around the world. The video network has become an outlet for new country artists, creating trends like the "young country" programming format that many radio stations are adopting today. Country singer Travis Tritt was quoted as saying that CMT is able to "see the energy of what we're are doing through videos. A lot of people tell me they have seen the video on CMT even before radio gets the record." Indeed, overseas exposure of new artists is a priority for CMT. "Doing this helps change the view of country music," said Werner, "if we can achieve this the artists will go to the other countries confident that they will sell tickets."

To be sure, CMT in no way emulates MTV, nor does it aspire to. The network features a blend of music videos, two daily series and four weekly series. Since there are no video disc jockeys (just music videos), the CMT concept can cross over easily into other cultures. Werner said that CMT is the only all video network in existence right now and plans to remain all video: "Our goal is to make CMT the genuine, authentic and original worldwide country music authority."