Mickey Guyton: Intentional consumerism of black country music isn’t just needed by Beyoncé

Country singer Mickey Guyton was moved to tears by the number of black faces within the audience at a Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) event in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

“I’ve been in Nashville for a very long time and my main thing is to welcome everyone to country music; it’s great that you’re finally here,” Guyton told the intimate audience. “We fought and worked hard to make people realize that black country music was popular. We’ve been working on this for years. I know you’re here now, but this is pre-2020, so I’m trying not to cry seeing you all here and the hard work we’ve done.”

BMAC President and CEO Willie “Prophet” Stigers kicked off the event focused on the historic exclusion of Black talent from country music despite the genre’s origins with a conversation with Guyton, who spoke in regards to the realities of the Nashville music scene and the role everyone can play in making it more inclusive. by streaming music from black country artists and attending their performances.

“We have been here before in 2020, in 2017 once we founded the ACM Diversity Task Force [Academy of Country Music Awards] and I’m attempting to work out the best way to bring country music to Black people and folks of color. They are closing the door on DEI, and if we do not speak about it and be intentional about our consumerism, we’re done. We’re actually done,” said Guyton, who spoke in regards to the personal toll of her years of efforts.

“I’m still recovering from quite a bit of the things that were said to me after I was attempting to fight for equality in country music. Nothing more nothing less. I didn’t let you know who to vote for. I have never told you anything aside from to provide people a likelihood not because of anything, but because they’re talented and deserve the identical opportunities, and that comes at a price.

Guyton’s words echoed those of BMAC co-founder Caron Veazey, who spoke in regards to the formation of BMAC after the 2020 deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and the way the organization’s goal of rooting out racism within the music industry has turn out to be harder inside 4 years because the industry committed to improving.

“It’s not making the headlines like it was in 2020 and we knew this day was coming,” Veazey said. “DEI is being dismantled all over the place. So our job is, in some ways, tougher now than it was in 2020, and BMAC now has a good greater responsibility. We need everyone’s help, everyone’s attention, everyone’s support and partnership to proceed our mission and really make a difference.”

Guyton and Stigers emphasize that support on this moment is about not overlooking the eye Beyoncé’s album delivered to each Black country artists and racism within the country music industry.

“When this Beyoncé moment is over and all her country fans are done with their boots and spurs, these Black country artists that you see and like their posts, we will still be here,” Guyton said. “We are still mostly in white spaces. I’m still the one black person in lots of mostly white spaces on boards, attempting to help make decisions and at fundraisers. It is incredibly crucial for every of you, black, white or otherwise, to point out these corporations the monetary value of black art.

To further overcome the obstacles faced by Black country music artists – like Tanner Adell and Tiera Kennedy, who were dropped from their labels before appearing on the song “Blackbird” – Dr. Jada Watson, director of musicology on the University of Ottawa, broke down in regards to the origins of segregation within the music industry and its specific impact on the country genre.

“The recording industry was racially segregated when it was founded in the 1920s – Hillbilly Music and Race Records – and those records became the classification categories under which music was recorded and then sold,” Dr. Watson said in the course of the Grammy Awards panel. -winning artist and songwriter INK, explaining that the identical categories later expanded to radio, then the Billboard charts, and now digital streaming platforms (DSPs).

“Every decision made in connection with building infrastructure and promoting music on the market was related to racial segregation and is 100% still valid,” she added. “If you think that your DSPs are different, they don’t seem to be. Because the identical R&B and country classifications that exist today have their roots within the segregated industry of the Twenties.

Dr. Watson explained that by the numbers, over the past 22 years, songs by Black women have accounted for lower than 1% of airplay on country music radio. “We talk about 0.03% quite often. In 2023, Black women’s songs had 0.02% airplay, so when “Texas Hold ‘Em” came out, it was an opportunity for me, because it has such a global audience, for the format to pick up the song and for the industry to build around possibilities. It hit no. It’s going to start to decline on March 23, and I’m really concerned about that,” said Dr. Watson, who noted that if you add “Texas Hold ‘Em” to the mix of Black women’s songs currently on the air, that number increases to just 0.24%. “So we’re still not in a good place.”

Highlighting Guyton’s remark earlier within the evening in regards to the impact that might be made, “If every Beyoncé fan streamed our song at least once,” Dr. Watson said it isn’t enough to easily like and follow Black country music artists on social media or on the platform’s streaming platform.

“It’s one thing to browse and imitate, it’s another thing, as Mickey said, to keep listening, streaming, coming back, listening to new songs, listening to old songs, because the conversion rate is negative right now,” he says. he said. “On one hand, that’s fine because the follower count continues to grow, but things will plateau once Beyoncé gets to Act III, so Mickey’s advice was the best advice for me. In fact, stream them regularly, stay with them, follow them, go to their shows and buy their merch.”

Regardless of how long the road to equality for Black artists in all musical genres is, each Guyton and BMAC said they refuse to stop trying.

“Our goal at BMAC is non-existence,” Stigers said, stating that disbanding the organization would actually mean eradicating racism within the music industry.

Talking in regards to the journey ahead, Guyton added: “We may not see the real change we want to see in our lifetime, but what awaits us right here gives me so much hope.”