Justin Moore About The CMA Awards: “They Don’t Put Country Acts On These Shows”
on Oct 26, 2023
Ratings for the CMA Awards Have Declined In Recent Years
The 57th Annual CMA Awards are just around the corner, unfolding at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 8th. The show will be hosted by Luke Bryan and NFL star Peyton Manning, with Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, and Tanya Tucker among the newly-announced lineup of performers.
Despite being one of the biggest nights of the year for country music, ratings have been on a steady decline in recent years, reaching an all-time low in 2021. Viewership for the 2022 show saw a slight increase, however, these recent ratings are nowhere near pre-pandemic numbers.
RELATED: 2023 CMA AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED
Justin Moore Shares What He Feels Is Holding The Award Shows Back
Justin Moore, who has 12 number-one singles, two certified platinum albums, and one certified gold album, has only been invited to the CMA Awards once. In a conversation on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast prior to last year’s CMA’s, Moore was not afraid to call out the problems he sees with these industry award shows:
“As more people have gotten a say so in how these productions go on, and they’re further away from country music, it’s like ‘Oh, we need to get so-and-so for ratings. We need to get an actress, we need to get a model, we need to get a football player…
Country music fans want to see country music artists. They just want to see country artists. That’s why they tune into these shows. And the fact that they don’t put country acts on these shows is why their ratings are failing.”
The CMAs Invite Celebrities from Outside the Genre to Boost Views
It has been apparent that the Country Music Association’s strategy for increasing viewership of the annual awards show is to include celebrities and noteworthy names from outside of country music to attend, present, or perform on the show, in hopes of sparking the interest of non-country music fans. Recent examples of this were pop star Katy Perry, quarterback Kurt Warner, and actress Susan Sarandon.
The complete lineup of performers and presenters for the 57th Annual CMA Awards has not yet been released, so it remains to be seen whether or not the organizers will once again attempt to mix things up or if they will return to their country roots.
Watch the complete podcast conversation with Justin Moore below.
