Several CMT team members have reportedly been laid off due to global restructuring of parent company Paramount.

According to Billboard, those affected include Stacey Cato (Director of Music and Talent), Quinn Brown (VP of Production), Ray Sells (Senior Director of Production), Jennifer DeVault (Senior Producer), Jordan Walker (Senior Manager of Music and Talent), Abbi Roth (Senior Manager of Music and Talent), Bryana Cielo (Executive Assistant) and Heather Graffagnino (VP of Production Management).

Country Aircheck reported that SVP/Music & Talent Leslie Fram is also exiting.

CMT has not returned a request for confirmation.

Amazon Music will celebrate Country Music Month by putting together an extensive collection of content tied to it’s flagship playlist “bonfire.”

Throughout the month, Amazon Music will release new livestreams, Amazon Music Originals and videos from featured artists on the playlist, including Dylan Gossett, Jelly Roll, Kacey Musgraves, Lainey Wilson, Leon Bridges, Nate Smith and more.

This Thursday (Oct. 3) at 6 p.m. PT, Amazon Music will also stream Breakthrough Artist Smith’s appearance on City Sessions in Los Angeles, part of Amazon Music’s exclusive series of intimate live streamed performances from across the world. Smith will be performing songs from his new album California Gold, as well as deep cuts and fan favorites.

On Oct. 11, Amazon Music will release video on demand of Musgraves’ recent Climate Pledge Arena concert. Broadcasted live by Amazon Music earlier this month, the concert documented the singer’s “Deeper Well World Tour” stop in Seattle and featured performances of “Cardinal,” “Jade Green,” “Rainbow,” “Architect” and more. The concert film also features performances from singer-songwriter Father John Misty and GRAMMY-winning trio Nickel Creek. The full concert will be available to stream exclusively on Prime Video.

Jelly Roll will kick off a star-studded third season of Amazon Music Live on Oct. 17 in support of his upcoming album, Beautifully Broken. Both Jelly Roll and Smith’s performances will stream on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch.

In another way to celebrate the genre, Amazon Music will also premiere new Amazon Music Originals. This Friday (Oct. 4), Gossett will release a brand-new cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and on Oct. 25, Wilson will release a new song called “Love & Learn.” Co-written with Caitlyn Smith and Lee Thomas Miller, the track will be available exclusively on Amazon Music. Each of these new Amazon Music Originals will appear on “bonfire.”

To end the month of celebration, on Oct. 25 Amazon Music will release the latest episode of Songline, the new docu-performance series that gives fans an intimate look into an artist’s songwriting process and the stories behind the music. The new episode will spotlight Bridges performing and telling the stories behind songs from his reflective new album, Leon.

“Leaning into our strength in country music, ‘bonfire’ allows us to speak to a wider, more diverse music customer with a unique, mood-based, genre-blending playlist,” says Emily Cohen Belote, Lead Music Curator at Amazon Music. “Sitting at the intersection of country, indie, and alternative, ‘bonfire’ was created because these genres have more in common than not and belong together in one home.”

Lainey Wilson will embark on her 2025 “Whirlwind European Tour” beginning March 4.

The run will kick off in Zurich at Kaufleuten with additional stops in Antwerp, Copenhagen, and more before wrapping up in Paris on March 19. On the tour Wilson will also headline the C2C Festivals across Europe in Rotterdam, Berlin, London, Belfast and Glasgow.

“Adventuring to new places has served me well over the past few years and I’ve still got more to see,” says Wilson. “I’m setting out to play four new cities and return back to my ‘roots’ at C2C Festival for my first time headlining!”

Before heading overseas, the hitmaker will continue on her “Country’s Cool Again” North American tour this fall. She is nominated for four awards at the upcoming 58th annual CMA Awards including Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year (“Watermelon Moonshine”) and Music Video of the Year (“Wildflowers and Wild Horses.”)

“2025 Whirlwind European Tour” Dates:
Tuesday, March 4 – Zurich, CH – Kaufleuten
Thursday, March 6 – Antwerp, BE – De Roma
Saturday, March 8 – Rotterdam, NL – C2C Rotterdam – Rotterdam Ahoy*
Sunday, March 9 – Berlin, DE – C2C Berlin – UberEats Music Hall*
Wednesday, March 12 – Copenhagen, DK – Store Vega
Friday, March 14 – London, UK – C2C Festival – The O2*
Saturday, March 15 – Belfast, UK – C2C Festival – SSE Arena*
Sunday, March 16 – Glasgow, UK – C2C Festival – OVO Hydro*
Wednesday, March 19 – Paris, FR – Alhambra

*Country 2 Country Festival

Michael Jasper, a 12-year veteran at WME, spends his days building strategic partnerships between brands and the agency’s celebrity talent. It’s a job where the possibilities are truly endless.

Working closely with Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, Brad Paisley, Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, Zach Bryan and Lauren Daigle, Jasper is deeply familiar with any given artist he’s working with, their music, personal values, goals, dreams and more. With his contacts that run the gamut in business, he conjures up mutually beneficial opportunities that leave a seismic impact on culture.

A native of Rockville, Maryland, Jasper first cut his teeth in the promotions department at the local country radio station WMZQ while he was in high school and between stints in college at Clemson University.

“That’s where I realized that there was an entire industry behind music. I learned a lot,” Jasper says. “That internship turned into a part-time job. Eventually, the promotions department was eliminated and they stuck me on ad sales. I was dealing with local florists, plumbers and car dealerships, just trying to sell ads.”

While Jasper was learning the art of selling, one of his co-workers recommended he read Donald S. Passman’s titular All You Need to Know About the Music Business book.

“I read it and a week later I wanted to become a booking agent,” he says.

Soon, Jasper was in Los Angeles working in the mailroom at WME. He was eventually assigned to the desk of veteran tour marketing executive Michele Bernstein. That’s where he learned of and became attracted to the brand partnerships department. He applied and got onto a brand partnership agent’s desk, and was immediately hooked.

“What solidified my love for what I do came in the form of being able to influence and impact pop culture, even if it was a tiny little bit,” he says. “When I was first starting out, the biggest impact came in broadcast television. Working as an assistant, I got to see agents putting celebrity talent into nationally broadcast TV commercials—especially the first year that I was around for Super Bowl spots. It was amazing to see how competitive that was, how incredible the creative was and, frankly, how much money these brands were dishing out.”

After two years learning about brand partnerships in L.A., an opportunity came up for Jasper to come to Nashville as a newly-promoted coordinator. He landed in Music City in 2014 and hit the ground running, becoming an agent in early 2015.

Now, he looks at his work in a wider scale than striking linear deals between talent and brands. Jasper is in the business of creating cultural touch points that benefit a multitude of parties.

“A good partnership can be represented as a rising tide that lifts all boats. There has to be mutual benefit to both the brand and the artist. That benefit, in my opinion, shouldn’t always be defined as impressions for the brand, nor money for the artist,” he explains, sharing how his line of work is sometimes misunderstood.

“Oftentimes there can be non-monetary value in a partnership. Let’s say an artist has a new single or a new album coming out. While there might be money attached to the partnership, if we can tap into a brand’s multi-million dollar media-buy with that new single as the music-bed or prominently featured in the ad, that’s helpful.”

Jasper and his team at WME have architected hundreds of multi-faceted, long-term relationships for talent, many of which have been tour sponsorships such as the T-Mobile sponsorship of Combs’ last three tours and Bryan’s partnership with Bud Light. As social media and live-show technology gets more advanced, the possibilities for collaboration blossom.

“Luke Combs’ partnership with T-Mobile is multi-elemental. The tour sponsorship umbrella includes concourse activation, a parking lot activation and in-show moments with lights and video wall content. He’s done interviews and shot custom content. There are social media posts, meet and greets and ticket banks—the list goes on,” Jasper says. “It’s a very cool and unique way to really harness the power of the 360 deal, which is to embrace all of the elements and the tools in an artist toolbox for a brand to deploy.”

A great example a brand celebrating a wide bevy of an artist’s talent can be seen in WME client Breland‘s extensive collaboration with Chevrolet. All of which started with the star’s breakout hit, “My Truck,” in 2020.

As the song was peaking in virality on TikTok, Chevrolet was strategizing a way to join the platform. With an interest in appealing to early TikTok’s young users, Chevy began its fruitful relationship with Breland, inviting him to help them make their first several videos.

“That led to a four-year relationship where he would go on to shoot a nationally broadcast TV commercial specifically around Chevrolet’s integration with the CMA Awards for their electric Silverado, as well as a number of different really fun and engaging moments in time with the brand.”

Another unique partnership that Jasper helped execute was Wilson and Daigle’s multi-year partnership with the Louisiana Department of Tourism.

To promote Louisiana as a destination, the Bayou State natives were a perfect fit.

“The asks of Lainey were just to go out and be vocal about where she’s from, even more so than she already was. She was more than happy to do it,” Jasper says. “That led to her performing on the Louisiana float at the Rose Parade in January of 2023, and she was able to meet with the Lieutenant Governor. They were also recently a sponsor at the opening of Bell Bottoms Up because it’s a Cajun fusion-inspired restaurant”

Earlier this year, Jasper brokered a partnership between Kane Brown and OLIPOP which, among various elements, included a sponsorship of Brown’s “2024 In The Air Tour”—a first for the rapidly growing better-for-you soda brand.

Jasper and his colleague Carlile Willet were also responsible for placing six of the seven artists on the Red Bull Jukebox event line up, taking place in Nashville this Wednesday (Oct. 2) at Ascend. Happening for the first time in the U.S., Red Bull Jukebox is a concert where fans decide what songs are played from the artists’ catalog allowing fans to experience a show in a completely new way.

A partnership Jasper is most proud of is Eric Paslay‘s work with Dexcom, the diabetes management device that monitors blood sugar in real-time. As a type one diabetic, Paslay was pricking his finger to check his glucose levels while managing the rigor of touring. In 2016, Dexcom identified Paslay as someone who might be a good spokesperson for the technology, and Jasper bridged the gap between the two.

“In addition to not ever having to prick his finger again, the continuous glucose monitor has an app that could be downloaded on his phone, his wife’s phone and his tour manager’s phone.

“A couple months into the partnership, Eric told me about the changes it was making. He shared that his tour manager could see on the app when he was getting low on stage and run a glass of OJ out,” Jasper says. “That partnership really sticks out that left the biggest impact because of how it fundamentally changed the way Eric lived his life.”

At the end of the day, it’s the impact that makes Jasper’s hard work worth it.

“My favorite part of my job having a small but direct influence on pop culture,” he sums. “Every day is consistently inconsistent, which makes it so exciting.”

Lainey Wilson, Cody Johnson and Dierks Bentley are the headliners for the Country To Country (C2C) Festival taking place March 14–16 across the United Kingdom.

All three artists are headlining the C2C event for the first time, and the three-day festival features a rotating lineup of country’s biggest stars and newcomers traveling between London, Glasgow and Belfast. They are joined by Tyler Hubbard, Shaboozey, Dylan Gossett, Tyler Hubbard, Chayce Beckham, Tucker Wetmore, Niko Moon, Nate Smith, 49 Winchester, Avery Anna, Wyatt Flores, Tanner Adell and The Castellows. 

Artists will be performing at The O2, London, The OVO Hydro Glasgow and, after a successful debut in 2024, The SSE Arena, Belfast.

“As country music continues to reach more fans around the world and achieve mainstream success in the U.K., we are more grateful than ever for the valuable role C2C has continued to play in developing audiences in the territory,” says Milly Olykan, CMA Vice President, International Relations and Development. “The festival continues to be an unforgettable moment in the year for fans, as well as a key opportunity for artists to gain exposure in the U.K. market. We are incredibly proud of our continued partnership with C2C, and of the success to date of Country Music in the U.K.”

The C2C Spotlight Stage, Bluebird Café and CMA Songwriters Series will also return, with lineup announcements in the coming months.