Country music fans want to hear more female artists on the radio, according to a survey of 1,000 radio listeners ages 25 to 54.
The survey, held by Coleman Insights and commissioned by CMT, found that 84% of listeners call for equal playtime for female artists. Seven out of 10 country music fans would like to see more female artists in the country music genre.
Moreover, 88 percent of the fans agree that women play a huge part in the history of country music. Seventy two percent of the listeners are aware there are more songs from male voices than women. Fifty three percent of country music fans admit that they have no gender preference when it comes to listening to music.
Commenting on the survey’s results, CMT Senior VP Leslie Fram realizes that “without creating an equal playing field, fans don’t know what they are missing. This is about a balance of gender and diversity. All voices need to be heard.”
The survey also revealed that if additional women would be featured on radio, 28 percent of listeners claim they would be more interested in country radio.
“The age-old myth that ‘women don’t want to hear women’ has led to a multitude of unproven public claims about female voices on the air, including ‘you can’t play two women back-to-back’ or ‘ratings drop when you play women,’” says Fram.
“We were shocked to learn no one had ever commissioned data on the listeners themselves,” she adds. “CMT took it directly to the fans and what we found couldn’t have been more clear: listeners want equal play and women do want to hear women on the radio.”
The new study is part of the CMT Equal Play campaign, a program that aims to increase female representation in country music. The survey also came after CMT announced that all of its music video programming will feature 50 per cent female artists going forward.
