The Wall Street Journal reports that Cumulus Media and Big Machine Label Group have partnered to launch a 90s Country based “Nash Icons” brand.
“Nash Icons” will focus on “old hits and new material by 1990s country stars such as Garth Brooks, George Strait, Shania Twain and the Judds, along with a handful of similar acts from the late 1980s and early 2000s”. The brand will also be made available to WestwoodOne affiliates and as specialty programming on the prime “Nash” brand.
Big Machine’s part will be running a Nash Icons imprint and is in talks to bring some of the core artists of the new brand to their label. The two companies will equally spilt profits from Nash Icons events and television programs.
At first glance it would appear the Nash Icons brand will give Cumulus options in markets where it owns two Country stations. Dallas, Nashville, Boise, and Des Moines are among those markets.
The full announcement from Cumulus follows:
Cumulus (NASDAQ:CMLS) announces a strategic partnership with Country music powerhouse Big Machine Label Group to expand the growing NASH platform with the launch of a new record label and live events business. The new venture, NASH ICONS, will showcase Nashville’s most iconic talent from the last 25 years.
NASH ICONS will provide a new distribution platform for Country music’s most iconic artists including future recordings through a new record label. Cumulus will separately introduce new NASH ICONS branding on some owned-and-operated radio stations, as well as create and syndicate NASH ICONS content to affiliate stations through WestwoodOne. The venture is expected to be a profitable contributor to the bottom line in 2014 and beyond.
Driven by Country music fans’ desire for more exposure to their all-time favorite artists, NASH ICONS will be an important complement to the more contemporary-focused NASH brand. Like its sister brand, NASH ICONS will provide advertisers the opportunity to engage with the passionate Country fan base across a multi-media platform that spans radio, television, digital, magazine and live events.
The Nashville-based Big Machine Label Group is led by President and CEO Scott Borchetta and serves as the home to Country superstars such as Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Reba, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry and Florida Georgia Line. The label was heralded by Billboard as the No. 1 independent record label based on a combination of sales and radio airplay for its star-studded roster of talent.
“We are excited to partner with Scott and Big Machine on the creation of NASH ICONS. This is an important line extension for our NASH brand that provides a new multi-media platform for Country music’s most prolific artists from the last two decades,” said Lew Dickey, CEO of Cumulus.
“There are so many iconic Country artists who are still passionate about recording new music and hearing their biggest hits on the radio. NASH ICONS will allow so many of these artists to do both,” said Big Machine Label Group president and CEO Scott Borchetta. “Big Machine Label Group is proud to partner with Cumulus in a way that allows us to keep entertaining the millions of fans of these all-time favorite artists.”
Cumulus will create and distribute a 24×7 NASH ICONS format and a long-form NASH ICONS feature show. The expansion of NASH to include NASH ICONS will allow the same markets to have NASH and NASH ICONS radio stations. NASH ICONS will also feature live events, merchandising, video and a section in NASH magazine, all coordinated to expand opportunities for Country fans to enjoy content featuring the iconic stars they love.
NASH ICONS will be based at the NASH Campus in Nashville, the nation’s only multi-media facilitydevoted solely to producing and distributing content based on the Country music lifestyle. The NASH campus includes three studios designed for a combination of TV and radio programming, indoor and outdoor event space, a print newsroom and extensive office space. Leading Country stars including Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum and Sheryl Crow are among the early visitors who’ve already spent time at the NASH campus.
All 68 Cumulus-owned Country stations are “Powered by NASH” and exclusive programming from the NASH campus currently airs on more than 400 radio stations nationwide through WestwoodOne, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Cumulus that creates and distributes content. Cumulus is also an investor in digital audio provider Rdio, which will soon feature dedicated NASH and NASH ICON programming.
Cumulus created the NASH entertainment brand based on the Country music lifestyle in 2013 starting with flagship radio station NASH FM 94.7 in New York City, which has rapidly become one of the most-listened-to Country stations in the nation.
NASH ICONS is the sole property of Cumulus and its marks are licensed to the Cumulus- Big Machine Joint Venture to be named NASH ICONS, which has been formed to create recorded and live music content by the most prolific Country artists from the last two decades.
Nathan Obral 
saltydog 
Jeffrey 
Poledo 
I would like to know just why the Dickies are so intent on destroying the country music genre. Seriously. What is their beef against country?
I didn’t realize the Dickeys are destroying country. I thought they were too busy destroying talk radio to even have time for that.
Talk radio is suffering from major demographic and programming issues, and has been for well over a decade. They aren’t destroying that format, but clearly do not know how to save it, either.
It’s just this BS trying to reference “NASH” as a “country music lifestyle brand” on all their press releases, like they expect people to start buying into a stupid name that was coined by some Madison Avenue hack who likely has never heard a single country song in his or her lifetime. It’s an insult on the listeners and fans of the genre.
As if hiring Mike Huckabee, who predictably failed, Lew has now decided that U.S. Representative. Mike Rogers is the answer. The result will be the same. Lew’s intuition about what works in talk radio is no better than his intuition about what works in country radio. What this self-described “consolidator” knows is how to play the investment community.
I love how they bolster that Nash in NYC is one of the most listened to country stations in the country. They fail to mention that regardless of such, their ratings are in the toilet. They only get the cume due to the large population in the NYC metro area. By comparison WNOW cumes over 2.5 million and everyone keeps asking when it will change formats.
I don’t have figures for how much Nash could actually make from having an country music outlet in market no. 1 but certainly as a stand alone station it would be considered a failure. It’s 1..5-1..9 that it has been pulling in for over 1 year is where WYNY was when it went belly up 18 years ago. Apparently there aren’t a lot more country listeners than there were then.
Furthermore, yes…Cumulus isn’t so much as destroying country as it is radio.
They’re working on their juke box, syndicated, anywhere USA formats.
A local Cumulus station, that shares a building with NASH FM, did a skit this afternoon where an intoxicated Lou Dickey called the request line from Atlanta and fired all the DJs. Foreshadowing I assume?