The nominees for the 2019 CMA International Awards have been revealed, honoring industry executives and artists who have supported and made a difference to the growth and promotion of country music in international markets.

“Our entire country music community is appreciative of the dedication and support our international partners provide in helping grow the genre around the globe and for bringing it to a wider audience,” said CMA Chief Executive Officer Sarah Trahern. “From the industry executives and broadcast partners who work tirelessly, to the artists who share their talents throughout the world, we’re thrilled to congratulate all of this year’s CMA International Awards nominees.”

Winners will be presented with their awards in March as CMA hosts several events in international territories including Germany, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

CMA INTERNATIONAL AWARDS – NOMINEES:

JO WALKER MEADOR INTERNATIONAL AWARD (This award recognizes outstanding achievement by an individual in advocating and supporting country music’s marketing development in territories outside the United States)
Nigel Hassler, CAA, U.K.
Susan Heymann, Chugg Entertainment, Australia
Christina Sas, UMG International, Germany
Bob Shennan, BBC Music, U.K.
Chris York, SJM Concerts, U.K.

WESLEY ROSE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (This award recognizes outstanding achievements in the media as they relate to country music outside of the United States)
David Dawson, NU Country, Australia
Rob Farina, iHeartRadio, Canada
Jan Gradvall, Sweden
Claire Horton, Claire Horton PR, U.K.
Paul Sexton, U.K.

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (Formerly the International Touring Artist Award, this award recognizes outstanding achievement by a United States-based artist who has demonstrated the most significant creative growth, development and promotion of the country music industry outside of the United States during the eligibility period)
The Cadillac Three
Dan + Shay
Florida Georgia Line
Kip Moore
Kacey Musgraves

INTERNATIONAL COUNTRY BROADCASTER AWARD (This award recognizes outstanding achievement by a radio broadcaster or syndicated radio reporter outside the United States who has made important contributions for the development of country music in his/her country)
Stuart Banford, Downtown Radio, Northern Ireland
Casey Clarke, Casey Clarke Productions, Canada
Paul Jackson, NOVA Entertainment, Australia
Baylen Leonard, BBC Radio 2, U.K.
Trevor Smith, Aloha Media, Australia

JEFF WALKER GLOBAL COUNTRY ARTIST AWARD (This award recognizes outstanding achievements by a country music artist signed outside of the United States. The artist must have furthered the popularity of country music as well as brought attention to the country music format in their foreign based territory)
Travis Collins, Australia
Ilse DeLange, The Netherlands
James Barker Band, Canada
Jill Johnson, Sweden
Ward Thomas, U.K.

Chris Janson celebrated the one-year anniversary of his Grand Ole Opry invitation last night (Feb. 5) with a special performance. Warner Music Nashville’s Matt Signore and the Opry’s Sally Williams joined Janson in the circle to present him with a plaque commemorating the RIAA Gold certification of his hit single “Drunk Girl,” a song he debuted live on the hallowed stage.

Following in his tradition of performing new music for his Opry family, Janson introduced his new single “Good Vibes” to the crowd before closing out the show with a rendition of his Double Platinum-certified No. 1 smash, “Buy Me A Boat.” “Good Vibes” releases Friday, Feb. 8.

Publicist Meg Ryan has joined publicity company The GreenRoom, which represents artists […]

Carrie Underwood’s event anthem “The Champion” featuring Ludacris has reached Platinum status on the anniversary of the song’s 2018 Super Bowl debut. Underwood co-wrote the tune with fellow songwriters Brett James, Chris DeStefano, and Christopher Bridges (PKA Ludacris), who Underwood asked to collaborate on the song.

The song reached No. 1 on the iTunes Top Songs chart in 10 countries including the U.S., where it held the top spot throughout its release week then rose back to the top of the chart for four consecutive days after the Super Bowl LII opening. The song also debuted Top 5 on the all-genre Top 200 Digital Songs chart and reached No. 7 on the Spotify US Viral 50 Chart with over 151 million streams to date. NBC Sports incorporated “The Champion” into its coverage of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

The song’s video, directed by Jimmy Lynch, won CMT’s 2018 Video Music Award for Female Video of the Year.  “The Champion” is featured as a bonus track on Underwood’s album Cry Pretty. Released in September 2018, Cry Pretty marked Underwood’s first studio album on Capitol Records Nashville, and debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Top Country Album Charts. The album was named the biggest all-genre debut by a female in 2018.

The Launch, the competitive Canadian series created by Big Machine Label Group President/CEO Scott Borchetta, returned January 30 for its second season premiere on the CTV network. Borchetta recently detailed the show’s unique format and hosted a special screening of The Launch‘s Season 2 premier.

Each episode of The Launch starts and ends with a song. Hit songwriters and producers introduce a demo at the beginning of each episode, and five aspiring artists audition, hoping to be a good fit for the song. Guiding artists through the audition, performing, and recording process are Borchetta and Candian superstar Marie-Mai (Star Académie, La Voix), who join a weekly rotating panel of celebrity mentors and producers. Season 1 featured the likes of OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, Shania Twain, Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles, Boy George, producer Dann Huff, Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, The Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie, Julia Michaels, producer Ian Kirkpatrick and producer Stephan Moccio as guest mentors.

Once two artists have been chosen to cut the demo, they head straight into the studio to record and then straight into rehearsals to practice their performance. Lastly, they perform their version of the song for the judges and a live audience, and one of them is chosen to be ‘launched.’ That episode’s winner will have their version of the song launched as a single just hours later.

“The whole process happens in 48 hours,” said Borchetta. “We launch the singles at midnight.”

Unlike other talent competitions like American Idol and The Voice, The Launch shows a competitor’s journey from start to finish in a single episode. There are seven episodes in a season—one of which is a recap—and each episode launches one new single, and hopefully, the career of a new artist. The series takes advantage of the platforms of CTV’s parent company Bell Media, including its radio stations, in order to promote its winners

The Launch has proven to be a global success thus far by breaking artists on US radio. Season one, Episode two winners, duo Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine, have broken into the Top 40 on pop radio with their launched single, “Ain’t Easy.” The track has amassed over 30 million streams globally.

 

The Launch‘s Season two premier features a moody electronic song written by Tedder. He along with Borchetta and Marie-Mai chose two competitors out of five female artists, put them to work in the studio and chose a version of the single to launch by the end of the 60-minute episode. The result was a Tedder original, “Better,” performed by 16 year-old Cassiøpeia from Burnaby, BC, featuring Canadian rappers Boi-1da and KILLY.

 

Borchetta expressed excitement for the selected mentors this season, including Bryan Adams and Bebe Rexha.

“I met Bebe when we did ‘Meant To Be’ with FGL,” he said, grinning. “She is just awesome. And in the studio, she had no filter. She’s great for the contestants.”

Other celebrity mentors and producers tapped for Season two include Sarah McLachlan, producer Nile Rodgers, Jann Arden, the Arkells’ Max Kerman, and more. Season two also introduces a new host, Liz Trinnear, as well as footage of the contestants in the lounge on The Launch set.

“We’ve shown proof of concept,” Borchetta, who got his feet wet as a mentor on Idol, explains of the unique format.

As far as expansion for The Launch, Borchetta detailed that Bell Media had sold international format rights to Sony Pictures Television, and that with the saturation of talent competition shows in the States, they are looking at other global opportunities for future distribution.