Why Are There So Many Country Music Awards Shows?

Last week Fox preempted one of my favorite shows, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, to show the American Country Awards. About a month before, another favorite show – Nashville, ironically enough – didn’t air because of the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards on ABC. The preemptions made me think that there’s a country music awards show on the air somewhere at any given time.

OK, I may have exaggerated a bit there, but the country music industry does love to give out awards. Looking at the 2013 awards show schedule, we find:

• The 48th Annual Academy of  Country Music (ACM) awards on April 7 on CBS
• The 2013 CMT Music Awards on June 5 on CMT (of course)
• The 47th Country Music Association (CMA) Awards on November 6 on ABC
• The CMT Artists of the Year 2013
• The 2013 American Country Awards on December 10 on Fox.

Add to that list something called 2013 CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock, which aired in August on ABC, and there are more than enough specials and trophy nights for country music. I’m not alone in thinking that the country music industry has too many awards shows. Writers Jennifer Bowen and Allison Scott made a similar point the night of the CMA Awards:

We could forgive you for not knowing tonight is country music’s “biggest night,” AKA awards night.

Because, didn’t country music’s “biggest night” already happen in April? Or June? Or isn’t it coming up in December? Weren’t the nominees for the “biggest night” released just last week?

Is it the CMA’s? Or the CMT’s? Or the ACM’s? Or the ACA’s?

(We have too many country music awards shows, for real.)

Don’t get me wrong – I like some country music, though I’m not too crazy about what’s popular right now. And I appreciate how the country music industry is just about the only group of folks in the entertainment business promoting traditional American values. I just tend to think that the industry is a bit too self-congratulatory.

What do you think? Are there too many country music awards shows?