why Nashville?

[freepcrusher]

How did Nashville, an otherwise third tier american city population wise, become such a hub of the music industry? It seems like almost all of the recording business 80-90 years ago was in NY (Columbia Records, TinPan Alley) and increasingly LA (Nat King Cole and Capitol Records). Why didn't country music (which is obviously the main source of revenue in Nashville) get its start at either Columbia or Capitol?

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

The early episodes of Ken Burns' Country Music cover this. As I recall, "hillbilly music" was looked down upon by those big city studios and to the extent they had any acts to promote, the marketing was out of touch with the audience. They also likely failed to properly assess the potential market size.

An insurance company based in Nashville formed WSM radio in 1925 including the Grand Ole Opry show to bring hillbilly music into the homes of millions just ahead of the Great Depression. I believe that the chance to seize this market opportunity also passed by the big players due to their own financial struggles and the anticipated harsher financial struggles of their target demographic. Most importantly (the other parts are more inference), it also made logical sense that the artists who came to play at the Opry had recording studios in the same place as they would go to in order to share their music with the largest audience they would ever get.

I watched this over a year ago, so watch yourself to fact check me more precisely. cc: peenie_weenie You might be able to add something.

[Alben Barkley]

The main target audience for country music and the main source of country talent is the South, and Nashville is centrally located in the South. Makes much more sense then to make it the center of country music over NYC or LA.

[freepcrusher]

I thought of starting another topic to ask this but decided against it. Does anyone agree that Chet Atkins is one of the few country musicians liked by non-country people? Like his style of country was unique, almost jazz-like. It's a lot more interesting to listen to than the type of country George Strait does.

[beesley]

I thought of starting another topic to ask this but decided against it. Does anyone agree that Chet Atkins is one of the few country musicians liked by non-country people? Like his style of country was unique, almost jazz-like. It's a lot more interesting to listen to than the type of country George Strait does.

That's the way I'd describe it too. Country isn't a genre I'm drawn to but I could listen to him easily.

[Del Tachi]

Country music is an underappreciated industry behemoth.  While R&B/Hip Hop dominate when it comes to Internet streaming and digital downloads, country music has the highest AM/FM radio penetration and leads the industry in physical music sales.