In this day and age, a country music artist who does not have their own web site is missing a vital business tool. A web site provides information about you, a way to sell your CDs and merchandise, a way to connect with your fans, and a way to connect with potential business partners. When designed properly, a web site makes you look like a pro and is an amazing tool in helping you achieve your goals. When designed badly, the site could be driving away potential fans and business opportunities.

I research every artist that goes into my web site, the International Country Music Database, so I've been to A LOT of country music artist sites over the last few years. Some have been exceptionally well-developed while others have been, to be honest, nightmares.

Indecipherable navigation, slow-loading graphics, and lack of contact information make it extremely difficult to get the information I need. Because I need the information, I try harder than the average surfer to figure out a site. Most people probably just leave, never to return.

The goal of your site should be to provide your visitors with what they're looking for. You want them to spend time on your site because they have found the information they're looking for and find it useful, not because they can't find it.

In order to attract visitors to and keep visitors on your site, you need the following:

• A professional look - I'm not saying this has to be boring or designed by a high-priced expert. What I'm saying is that it can't look like you just threw it together in a day. Also, avoid cutesy animations and graphics. You want the site to express who you are, but you also want it to indicate you're a pro (even if you're just starting out!).


• Easy/intuitive navigation - If I can't figure out how to get to other pages on your site, how will I learn more about you?


• Clean design - Make it easy for me to read the text that you have on your site. Use colors that contrast well (black on white, for example). If I want to know about you, I need to be able to read what's been written!


• Easy access to the information I'm looking for - This ties in with navigation, but is also about what information you include on your site. What are your fans or potential business partners looking to get from your site? That should drive what information goes on your site.

The above points are beginning basics for creating a professional country music web site. Remember, you want to look like a pro and let people know you're serious about your career. For more ideas on how to create your site, see the next article in this series, Optimize Your Country Music Web Site: Part 2 - What to Include.

Country Music star Brad Paisley has released his latest CD entitled Time Well Wasted and it simply is his best release to date.

All of the songs on this collection have stories behind them and are very uplifting and inspirational. Not to mention that Paisley is one of the best steel guitar players in contemporary music.

Time Well Wasted, like all Brad Paisley CDs, has a real good mix of fast and slow stuff.

The CD launches with a fantastic duet with Alan Jackson on the track named The World, and also has a the great combination of Paisley's vocals with Dolly Parton on track 12, When I Get Where I'm Going. Which may be one of the very best country songs ever.

Overall Time Well Wasted is an outstanding release as every track is top notch.

This is a CD any music fan can and will enjoy totally irregardless of genre preference. It's just simply good music and a must have.

The standout tunes on Time Well Wasted are The World [track 1], You Need A Man Around Here [track 6], and When I Get Where I'm Going (Featuring Dolly Parton) [track 12]. My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 4, I'll Take You Back. Very nice!

Release Notes:

Brad Paisley originally released Time Well Wasted on August 16, 2005 on the Arista record label.

CD track list follows:

1. The World
2. Alcohol
3. Waitin' On A Woman
4. I'll Take You Back
5. She's Everything
6. You Need A Man Around Here
7. Out In The Parkin' Lot (with Alan Jackson)
8. Rainin' You
9. Flowers
10. Love Is Never-Ending
11. The Uncloudy Day
12. When I Get Where I'm Going (Featuring Dolly Parton)
13. Easy Money
14. Time Warp
15. Time Well Wasted
16. Cornography (featuring James Burton & the Kung Pao Buckaroos)

Up from down under the Australian born Keith Urban continues to cement himself as a solid up and coming star with the release of his CD Be Here.

Throughout Be Here Urban distinguishes himself by easily transitioning between country, rock, pop and tinges of bluegrass, creating his own signature style. As has become his trademark, the depth and passion that he brings to his songs through the lyrics can have you in tears.

Be Here has such a great mix of songs. Everything from upbeat fun songs like Days Go By, and Better Life, to sweet romantic songs like Making Memories of Us, and the the ones that will really tug at your heart like Tonight I Wanna Cry, and Nobody Drinks Alone.

These days it's a very rare CD on which every single song is good or better than the one before it. This CD is certainly one of those rare CDs. I love every song on it and recommend it to anyone who not only enjoys country music but music in general. Urban, through his unique style, has a way of making the listener feel the lyrics.

It should be noted that Urban's guitar playing is top notch as well. Providing stirring solo's like that on She's Gotta Be. Making him a really well rounded young musician.

The CD launches with a great track, Days Go By, that will definitely be heard on country music radio stations everywhere, and deservedly so. From there Urban proceeds to display why he is quickly becoming one the best in the business as he mixes his signature style throughout the collection.

Overall Be Here is an outstanding release. Definitely must have music. I give it two thumbs up.

While this entire CD is outstanding the truly standout tunes are Better Life [track 2], You're My Better Half [track 6], and These Are The Days [track 13]. My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 10, Nobody Drinks Alone. Very nice!

Release Notes:

Keith Urban originally released Be Here on September 21, 2004 on the Capitol record label.

CD track list follows:

1. Days Go By

2. Better Life

3. Making Memories Of Us

4. God's Been Good To Me

5. The Hard Way

6. You're My Better Half

7. I Could Fly

8. Tonight I Wanna Cry

9. She's Gotta Be

10. Nobody Drinks Alone

11. Country Comfort

12. Live To Love Another Day

13. These Are The Days

The exceptionally talented Contemporary Country artist Ty Herndon has released him CD entitled Right About Now. I am very confident and happy to announce that I believe Ty Herndon fans, and Contemporary Country fans alike will be pleased with this one. With the release of Right About Now Ty Herndon’s artistic excellence is on full display as Herndon has once again delivered a brilliant collection of tracks that could very well be him best work to date.

It's a rare day indeed that I get a CD from an artist that I can truthfully say does not have a bad track in the bunch. I'm more than happy to announce that’s exactly what I must say about this one. There simply is NOT a bad one in the bunch. No fillers here at all.

Contemporary Country music fans will recognize some of the well known contributors on the project including Ty Herndon and Others plus a few other notables as well.

Overall Right About Now is an outstanding release. What I call must have music. I give it two thumbs up and is most definitely a worthy addition to any Contemporary Country collection. Truly an outstanding Contemporary Country CD. One of those that is completely void of any wasted time, as each track is simply superb.

While the entire album is really very good some of my favorites are track 2 - In The Arms, track 3 - You Still Own Me, and track 10 - If I Could Only Have Her Love Back

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 5 - Right About Now. Wow!

Right About Now Release Notes:

Ty Herndon originally released Right About Now on January 9, 2007 on the Quaterback Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Someday Soon

2. In The Arms

3. You Still Own Me

4. Mighty Mighty Love

5. Right About Now

6. Love Revival

7. Hide

8. Mercy Line

9. We Are

10. If I Could Only Have Her Love Back

11. Better Day

The CMA Music Festival, hosted by the Country Music Association (CMA), encompasses four days of country music concerts, as well as musician and fan interactions. Despite its emphasis on country music and country music artists, the festival also showcases selected artists in other musical genres. In 2007, rock 'n' roll revivalists Los Lonely Boys and '70s heavy rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd made appearances.

Over 200 artists attend the event each year to hold up to 30 hours of autograph sessions and "meet-and-greet" sessions with their fans at the Nashville Convention Center. Many artist fan clubs also hold gatherings in the area during the festival. The festival usually begins the day after the Tnn/CMT Country Music Award show, the only fan-voted country music awards. During the festival, attendees can choose from the 100 hours of concerts that are offered on stages at Riverfront Park and LP Field.

Up until 2001, the evening concerts were organized by record labels, with each label choosing which of their artists would be able to perform, and for how long. However, beginning with Fan Fair 2001, these main concerts were grouped instead by record distribution group. This allowed for four main concerts, for Sony, WEA/EMI, UNI, and BMG.

Artists are held to very strict timeframes for their performances, with Martina McBride noting in 2007 that she was expected to be on stage for exactly 34 minutes. The artists are not paid to attend the festival or for their performances during the festival.

Half of the proceeds from the festival each year (estimated at US$200,000 in 2001) are donated to charity, while the other half is earmarked by the CMA for "the advancement of country music".

The inaugural Fan Fair was held in April 1972 in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium, and 5000 fans attended. The following year, the event was moved to June in the hope of finding better weather conditions, and attendance doubled to 10000 fans. In the third year, the first non-country musician, Paul McCartney, was invited to perform, and Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner performed a duet for the last time.

In 1991, singer Kathy Mattea attended Fan Fair despite being under doctor's orders not to speak so that her injured vocal cords could heal. She used a computer to type messages for her fans to read as she held "conversations" with them. Two years later, Shania Twain met her future husband, producer Mutt Lange, at the festival.

Fan Fair underwent large changes in 2001. For the first time, the event was held over a long weekend instead of during the week. At the same time, the festival moved from its long-time home at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds to several sites clustered in downtown Nashville. In 2004, CMA renamed the festival the CMA Music Festival in order to change negative perceptions, embrace the CMA brand and to expand the appeal of the event.

In 2008, the CMA Music Festival will take place from the 5th to the 8th of June, and tickets are available now. Hotels in Nashville are expected to get booked up quickly, so if you're keen to get you dose of country, make sure you book ahead.

In my first article in this series, Optimize Your Country Music Web Site: Part 1 - Look Like a Pro, I gave examples of how to make the web site for a country music artist look professional. Once your site looks great and is easy to navigate, you need to provide the right content.

The minimum information that should be included on a country music artist's site includes:

• Your bio - Tell us who you are and why you're in country music. Make this more than just the press release for your current CD.


• Current news - Tell us what you've been up to and update it regularly!


• Tour information - Tell us where you'll be performing. Please make this an easy to read page. In my personal opinion, stay away from calendars and other things like that. Just list when and where you're going to be. If the place where you're playing has a web site, link to that site. And PLEASE keep this up to date. If you have dates from the previous year (and really, why would you?) please make it clear which year the dates are for.


• Music and products for sale - If you're going to sell your wares on your site (and you should!), make this page clean and easy to understand. Also, for your music, have song clips (at the very least) so people can listen before they buy. You'd be surprised at how many music sites I've been to with no music on them.


• Newsletter sign up form - Using a form, you can collect email addresses for your fans. This allows you to send out periodic notes to your fans (once a month or when something special is going on). Make sure you place this sign up form in an obvious spot on every page!


• A way to contact you - There are two different groups you have to think about here. Fans and business partners. You probably want to handle these two groups differently, but make sure there is a way for people to get in touch with you; especially business partners. Sometimes I need more information for an artist to include them on my site, but I can't find out how to contact them through their site. This is a lost marketing opportunity.

The above ideas are the minimum requirements for your web site. You can add other features, but the important thing to remember is to not add so many features you can't maintain your site.

For items to avoid on your web site, see the third articles in this series, Optimize Your Country Music Web Site: Part 3 - What NOT to Include.

Your web site is your calling card online. It must be professional and easy to use. Follow the suggestions listed above and in parts one and three of this series and you'll be well on your way to a really great web site.

Having worked in music radio, most of that at Country music radio stations, for the past 35 years, I recently stopped to reflect on the evolution of Country music that I’ve seen and way Country music radio has reacted.

As with everything, Country music and radio aren’t as straightforward or simple as they once were. When I first started playing Country in Eugene, Oregon in 1971 the raging discussion was the emergence in some markets of a “Country-politan” format distinctly different from the traditional Country format that everybody else was playing. Essentially the discussion revolved around programming “crossover” artists and music styles, and whether the “harder” heritage Country acts were acceptable as Country music radio evolved.

To put this into perspective, in 1971 the debate was whether John Denver and Ann Murray were Country acts and should be played, and whether a contemporary Country music station should play Hank Williams in regular oldies rotation! By today’s standards this is laughable, but it does serve to make the point that as the Country radio format sought to broaden its appeal and attract a larger audience some felt that compromises would be necessary. More importantly it signaled the recognition that Country music fans were a more diverse group than they had been given credit for. This discussion of segmentation of the Country music format was the start of what we now have come to accept as the diversity of the tastes of Country music fans.

Today there are recognized music “charts” for the traditional Country Singles and Albums, but there are also now Bluegrass, Americana and Texas Music charts as well, all under the umbrella of Country music.

I find it most interesting that while Country music has quite obviously diversified, AM and FM Country music radio stations generally haven’t followed this trend and branched out to any great degree. If you were to go into any market today I would lay odds that you will find the Country music station or stations will all be much the same – playing 10 or 12-in-a-row, with a station playlist of fewer than 750 songs little of which will be older than 10 years. Some of these stations will have an “oldies” or “bluegrass” show as we did in San Diego, but the station that weaves these elements into the day to day format is very rare indeed.

To be fair I must acknowledge that in some markets you may also find a “Classic” Country station, generally on an otherwise unused AM frequency, but I find these stations personally unfulfilling. I suspect that this may be because I like a good deal of contemporary Country music and want to hear it, and that by and large the people behind classic Country formats weren’t alive when these songs were hits, and, but that’s another gripe!

As one who has been part of the research and strategy behind the contemporary Country music approach I don’t criticize playing either extremely contemporary or exclusively “classic” Country music. On the contrary I understand that this kind of conservative approach is dictated to capture the most desirable (saleable) segment of the audience possible. I do suggest, however, that stations do this at their own peril as they continue to narrow their focus and leave larger numbers of Country music fans disaffected and unserved.

This wouldn’t necessarily be a problem except that AM and FM radio no longer has a monopoly on delivery of music. The emergence of satellite and more importantly internet “radio” where startup and operating costs are negligible now presents an alternative that will play an increasingly important role. The fact is no matter what your personal flavor of Country music is, there is an internet station playing it. If you like ‘mainly current hits but some 70s and Bluegrass”, someone offers it. If you Texas Country and Bluegrass, it’s there.

Although internet radio has been around for more than a decade it is still in its infancy. Indications are, however that it will grow up to be a 900 lb. gorilla. Estimates are that something approaching 50% of the younger and more adaptable age groups are already turning to the net as their primary source for new music. At the other end of the spectrum, the 55+ generation is the fastest growing segment of internet users. As the 55+ group represents an increasingly economically attractive audience, and one that used to be the domain of Country music radio, this is an ominous sign for traditional broadcasters who will be increasingly forced to compete with low budget operators.

This will likely be a double-edged sword. On the one hand the audience will be able to find a “radio” format either on a satellite service or more likely on the net that more closely approaches their ideal music mix. On the other hand the audiences for individual stations will be much smaller than broadcasters are used to working with. This will have the effect that the sterility and compromises of low budget broadcasting that has turned some listeners off will become more widespread. This will in turn further erode and put economic pressure on AM and FM broadcasters’ in a vicious downward cycle.