ACM fiddles with voting rules to boost interest

[ChrisKellieFan]

By PETER COOPER • Staff Writer • May 18, 2008

LAS VEGAS — The bulk of the mainstream country music industry is hunkered in surreal Las Vegas this weekend, with recording artists and record label pros hoping the hubbub surrounding tonight's 43rd Academy of Country Music Awards can be a shot in the arm for an industry in transition.

Record sales are down across most genres, including country, and the preponderance of awards shows can confuse viewers who don't know their ACMs from their CMAs. But the Los Angeles-based academy (country's West Coast booster organization) has opened entertainer of the year voting to fans this year, and the nominations lists for other categories include surprising names such as the Eagles, Kelly Clarkson, Sheryl Crow and Bon Jovi.

Those quirks are intended to stir public interest at a time when the country industry desperately needs people to pay attention. The show will spotlight historically significant artists Eddy Arnold, Garth Brooks and Conway Twitty, as well as up-and-coming acts such as best new artist nominee Jack Ingram.

"It took me 15 years on the road to be a brand-new artist," said Ingram, who spent his Saturday afternoon rehearsing for a showcase and doing 30 radio station interviews. "So I'm too old not to give a (darn) about all of this. It's important to be noticed. When they come to my award, my heart's going to beat pretty fast, and my legs will be kind of numb. It's like when it's your turn at bat."

Kenny Chesney will have plenty of turns at bat tonight, as his 11 nominations lead the field. Chesney, one of the top touring acts in music, has won the entertainer of the year prize three years running, but the change in voting format threatens to put an end to that reign. In past years, the academy's professional membership has done the voting, but now anyone with an Internet connection can register an opinion.

While Chesney draws more ticket-buying fans each year than any other country performer, he'll be challenged in the race by Rascal Flatts, a popular band with an extremely active "street team" of Internet-savvy supporters. On Wednesday of last week, the Flatts band was offering an exclusive MP3 download to fans who went to the www.acmcountry.com site and voted, though that offer was taken down after an industry uproar. Still, any download-influenced Flatts votes will probably count.

'It's still new hat'

Kellie Pickler, who is nominated for top new female vocalist, has no problem with fans voting on a category.

"The fans are the ones who buy the records, who enable us to do this," said Pickler, just before a rehearsal for the ACM's New Faces showcase on Saturday. Pickler was delighted to have a part in the New Faces show and on the ACM program.

"It's fun to be out here when all of us rednecks come to Vegas," said Pickler, a North Carolina-reared singer who first came to public notice through a stint on American Idol. "It's not old hat to me yet. It's still new hat."

The awards show is the centerpiece of a weekend that also finds most artists doing radio interviews and conversing with the country fans seeking autographs and photos.

"This is me, yesterday, with Emma Mae Jacob," said Brad Palmer of Las Vegas. He was one in a crowd of about 50 fans who stood near the entrance to a room where more than 60 entertainers — all the usual country suspects, plus Eddie Money and comedians George Wallace and Rita Rudner — did interviews with Westwood One radio affiliates. "She's even younger than Taylor Swift."

Ingram took time for the Westwood One interviews, time for a photo with Palmer and time to ponder his own role in the new country music millennium.

"From a strict numbers game, it's different now than it was a few years ago," Ingram said. "In that respect, it's not easy for the labels or the artists. But I can't worry about that. The sky is not falling, it's just that the weather is changing, and these people at the labels are smart enough that they're going to figure it out. These labels have to ride horses. My job is to make sure that I'm a horse they want to ride."

Peter Cooper writes about music for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 259-8220, or by e-mail at pcooper@tennessean.com.