Scotty McCreery Dropped from Label, But Scotty Not To Blame
This pattern is achingly predictable: 1) Country star given ultimatum to either succeed on radio, or get dropped. 2) Country star cuts completely pandering and formulaic radio hit well outside their comfort zone. 3) Single fails because it’s nothing original, and doesn’t fit the artist’s established style. 4) Label blames star, even though they picked the song, and were the ones responsible for marketing it to radio, and either a) delays the new album indefinitely b) drops them from label c) both.
In the case of the Alfred P. Neuman look-alike and American Idol winner Scotty McCreery, it was option ‘c’.
Confirmed today via Taste of Country‘s Billy Dukes, Scotty McCreery has been canned by Mercury Nashville. “I enjoyed being on Mercury Nashville / Interscope and I appreciate all the great people who worked hard on my behalf while I was there,” McCreery said. “I am excited about what the future holds and the opportunities being presented to me.”
You could see this all unfolding when Scotty McCreery first released the ridiculous single “Southern Belle.” Even he knew it was well outside of the style he’d been known for previously. “This is probably about as far left as we’ll go,” McCreery said about it at the time. In a last ditch effort to salvage the song, Mercury Nashville released an equally embarrassing video for the song, full of booty shots of cheerleaders, hoping sex would sell “Southern Belle” to unimpressed consumers. But no dice. The best the song could muster was #45 on the Country Airplay Chart, and now it’s sianarah for Scotty.
Meanwhile the word is Scotty has an entire record sitting on a shelf that will likely never see the light of day. Mercury Nashville spent all of this money, and Scotty McCreery spent years of his life working in a direction that ultimately was for naught. But it’s not Scotty McCreery’s fault, though he’s the one having to pay for it. Perhaps he should have had more backbone, but it’s just another glaring example of how country music can’t get off the crutch of radio. As an American Idol winner, Scotty has a tremendous grassroots following nationally and internationally. But if you can’t have a hit commercial single, your country music major label is stupefied what to do with you, even though there’s examples of country artists blowing up left and right that radio ignores.
Scotty will likely land on his feet elsewhere, but his name will be that much weaker from Mercury Nashville’s mismanagement. Regardless of what you think about his music or about anyone bred from American Idol, Scotty has an unmistakable country voice. It’s just a shame Music Row couldn’t figure out what the hell to do with it, and Scotty is the one who takes the blame.
Jordan K
February 3, 2016 @ 10:45 am
Thirty tigers. Dudes got a good shot, but not with that trash they made him do
Jamie
February 3, 2016 @ 11:01 am
Hopefully another label will give him a chance. He has a great voice and should make a really traditional leaning country album. His covers of ‘Hello Darlin” & ‘The Grand Tour’ are pretty good. He has the voice suited for classic country.
Also it seems Sara Evans has also been dropped by RCA/Sony Music Nashville (according to the website, ‘The Boot’).
Jamie Peters
February 3, 2016 @ 4:39 pm
Scotty’s covers of “Hello Darlin'” and “The Grand Tour” are more than just good. They are the best covers of these two songs I have ever heard! He got a lot of great reviews and publicity after he performed these two songs at the Grand Ole Opry. It was absolutely awesome!
albert
February 3, 2016 @ 10:27 pm
‘Also it seems Sara Evans has also been dropped by RCA/Sony Music Nashville (according to the website, ”˜The Boot”™). ‘
Not happy that Sarah’s label-less …but it may be the best thing for her too . As amazingly talented as I believe she is vocally , her song choices fell between the cracks more often than not . The records sounded great , her performances were , as always , so much better than most radio fare …BUT ..she was becoming yet another straw-grasper singing pop music that neither pop nor country-pop radio seemed interested in . Sarah needs to do a Lee Ann Womack and record things from the heart …things that mean something to HER and feature her vocal soul .
JC Eldredge
February 3, 2016 @ 11:06 am
Maybe he and Love and Theft can form a label called Screwed by The Man and pick up those forced to sellout, resulting in their own demise. Or since he seems to have mystical powers, maybe Bobby Bones should start a label for all of these people being dropped. Then he could get a cut when he tells people to buy their songs.
Shastacatfish
February 3, 2016 @ 11:12 am
Alfred E. Neuman. What me worry, Trig?!
Jacob B
February 3, 2016 @ 11:47 am
He’s better off being dropped. Maybe he find a label that will support what HE wants to release. I have a feeling that his former label made him put out this junk.
DimM
February 3, 2016 @ 11:52 am
Soon with a new label and the same boring songs. A good voice wasted.
martha
February 3, 2016 @ 12:00 pm
Hopefully Josh Turner will get dropped by his label soon so he can make music and get on with his career.
Mary Bromfield
February 3, 2016 @ 1:12 pm
McCreery has a great voice and one of the best live shows I’ve seen in the last year. He will land at another label and do great things. Make mine McCreery — he’s one of the best modern country artists out today
Jeanie Flannery
December 14, 2017 @ 9:25 pm
I agree, he is better than a lot of these singers on some of the music shows!!
Scotty needs to be on some of these country shows. The guy has a great voice!! Don’t give him junk stuff to sing! People loved his humble way, and should sing gospel and songs from the heart.
1 I am an older lady, but, think he is much better than a lot of the artists I seen on some of these shows.
Fuzzy TwoShirts
February 3, 2016 @ 1:33 pm
Hopefully he never returns
Glen W. Ford
July 6, 2017 @ 4:19 pm
Fuzzy- you are a scum bag
Julee Masters
February 3, 2016 @ 2:11 pm
Scotty McCreery is a great country singer and seems to have integrity. I hope the best for him.
Mike in Winston
February 3, 2016 @ 2:20 pm
Bojangle’s parking lots can hold up to 3 or 400 fans, he still has it great!
ElectricOutcast
February 3, 2016 @ 2:48 pm
Think Universal Music might be doing some house cleaning this year?
Jamie Peters
February 3, 2016 @ 4:33 pm
Scotty McCreery is an extremely gifted and talented young man with a unique and distinctive voice that I can assure you will be around for a long time. He will have another label that is more worthy of his talents and will know how to promote and support him, so he can become the country music legend and artist he is destined to be. UMG truly missed it with Scotty! What is wrong with this label? They have artists still on their label that haven’t come close to the level of success that Scotty has had. Why are they still there? This had nothing to do with Scotty’s success and artistry. There is much more to this than your article describes, and I’m afraid you really don’t have a clue as to the truth of it all.
albert
February 3, 2016 @ 10:33 pm
Maybe Scotty just needed some tats , a sleeveless shirt , sunglasses and a backward hat. That seems to work for the other labelites .
Jamie Peters
February 3, 2016 @ 11:49 pm
Lol You nailed it with that one. I just hope that his new label with allow him to be the artist that he wants to be instead of trying to make him into something he is not.
PETE MARSHALL
February 3, 2016 @ 4:35 pm
Scotty is a great singer but he got screwed by country radio on 6 of his singles. I know he has 2 top 10 and 2 top 20 hits but he should have bigger hits. Josh Turner, Kip Moore, Clare Dunn, Luaren Alaina, and Gary Allan will be dropped by Mercury/MCA sometime this year. Jerrod Neimann got dropped by Arista last month.
Nick
February 3, 2016 @ 4:51 pm
By that formula, Danielle Bradbury must be the next to go. Came across “friend zone” on youtube and left head in hands.
PETE MARSHALL
February 3, 2016 @ 5:12 pm
Eli Young Band will be next to go after 2 (“Honey I’m Good” with Andy Grammar) of their songs failed at radio and bombed the charts.
Trigger
February 3, 2016 @ 5:54 pm
Word out today is that Eli Young Band are working on a new album that’s going to be more like their older music. So pretty much admitting the whole EDM / Andy Grammar move was a failure.
Lachie
February 3, 2016 @ 6:25 pm
That’s good to hear – I thoroughly enjoyed their older music. Saw them live opening for Tim McGraw here in Aus and they were fantastic.
Jen
February 3, 2016 @ 5:39 pm
Perhaps they should all go Indie and get played on satellite. Better off. The crap on radio is God-awful!
Erik North
February 3, 2016 @ 5:46 pm
It does seem like record labels and radio station programmers (or is it the conglomerates that own those radio stations) have extremely short spans of attention these days, given how much they elevate bro-country bums like Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean, and give any artists who aren’t like them the Shaft. I shudder to think how much more short-changed we would have been if this mentality had existed in the 1960s and 1970s as it exists today.
Scotty J
February 3, 2016 @ 6:36 pm
Yep. Reba McEntire had numerous failed to middling singles covering many years before finally breaking through. In today’s era she would be dropped and probably never heard from again. Hell, Alan Jackson’s first single flopped outside the top 40 so who knows what would happen to him now.
albert
February 3, 2016 @ 10:34 pm
EXCELLENT point Eric
Summer Jam
February 3, 2016 @ 6:49 pm
Josh Thompson, Jerrod Neimann, and now Scotty McCreery. No surprise. All very talented artists that are some of mainstream country music’s best, all being chucked by weak, poorly managed labels. I saw this coming with all of these artists and i predict that Easton Corbin, Billy Currington, and Mo Pitney are the next ones to be fired by their labels.
Has anyone been keeping up with the charts? Jerrod Neimann fried his career with “Donkey”, with his next two GOOD songs stalling out both at #35. Easton Corbin’s “Clockwork” stalled quickly at #32, then “Baby Be My Love Song” at #3, followed by “Yup” struggling to get to #35 and stalled out there for nearly two months. Easton’s singles, even “Baby Be My Love Song” which got significant airplay, all have sold very poorly as well as his latest album. Billy Currington made it to #1 with “Don’t It”, but sales of the single have been very poor for a song that received such significant airplay. “Drinkin Town With A Football Problem” struggled to get into the top 30 then stalled at #30. The next single “It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To” is a crappy song that is also going to go the way of the latter single. His latest album has also had very mediocre sales.
Abigail Hunkle
February 3, 2016 @ 8:54 pm
I think McCreery has a fantastic voice. Plus Scotty is such a hottie.
albert
February 3, 2016 @ 10:21 pm
In an integrity -driven music business , Scotty McCreary would be the poster boy for what NOT to do when launching a career .
DO NOT go on a music contest show . THAT’S where the molding and compromising begins .
DO NOT sign with a label that wants to sign you BECAUSE you won a reality show singing contest . Sheesh !
Ignore these first two ‘ suggestions’ at your own professional peril .However if you choose NOT to ignore them , DO NOT continue the charade one second longer than you need to in order to secure a forum through said label .
Good luck Scotty …..
albert
February 3, 2016 @ 10:41 pm
This has absolutely nothing to do with anything …but I was inadvertently subjected to Sam Hunt’s ” Smalltown Breakup ( ? ) ” the other day- first time I’d heard it . W-T-F ????? . For me , this is really ‘country’ radio saying ” We Give Up …bring us your pseudo-rap , pseudo rock , pseudo-reggae , pseudeo pop , pseudo R and B , psuedo whatever-the-hell-you-want as long as the lyrics are all the same …and we’ll play it – NO QUESTIONS ASKED . Just drop it in a small un-marked brown paper sack at the door . Don’t bother labeling it …..won’t make any difference …we’ll play ANYTHING ( as long as it isn’t country ).
Jake W
February 3, 2016 @ 11:16 pm
Aw, man that guys got potential, I think he needs to hang out with sturgill a little, broaden his horizons, open his mind. Really though maybe he was just a little too young & inexperienced, with a little mentoring from an independent songwriter type of fellow he would really evolve something interesting. That boys voice is an amazing gift, and I would give anything he sings at least one listen.
Jessica
February 4, 2016 @ 2:59 am
Your headline says Scotty’s not to blame… maybe his manager, John Lytle is. He also “manages” Gary Allan and was dumped by Joe Nichols a few years ago. Lytle’s wife is on the ACM board, and ridiculous pop song Hangover Tonight is nominated for an ACM. I’m just sayin…
Matt
February 4, 2016 @ 7:16 am
This happens way more than any of us ever hear about. You would not believe the albums shelved, never seeing the light of day. Artist gets dropped before anyone ever hears them. For every artist you hear, 100 others were dropped. At least Scotty got a shot. But yet artists still line up to make records for corporations. It just doesn’t work. Art and commerce do not go together. The End.
Razor X
February 4, 2016 @ 7:22 am
What we are witnessing is the implosion of the entire major label system. They are dropping artists who are struggling to get radio airplay and replacing them with what, exactly? New unknowns that will also have to struggle for airplay? Newer acts may be able to get some attention by chasing the next big trend but that is no way to sustain a career. Meanwhile, the more worthy of the artists who were dropped will find a way to continue their careers without the help of major labels or radio. This could end up being a very good thing for country music as a whole. The monopoly of the major labels and corporate radio needs to be broken.
Convict Charlie
February 4, 2016 @ 8:18 am
It’s the system of how they do. Make all their money on major A list artists. 2-3 million to break an artist and how many really make their money back for them. Article I read a few years back had the first ten artists for a label losing money, 11th breaks even for the first ten, and bank everything on the 12th or A list one. Throw all their eggs into one basket.
bamstrait
February 4, 2016 @ 7:53 am
The American Idol season 10 winner’s two studio albums each debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, while his holiday set peaked at No. 2. His post-Idol set, 2011’s Clear As Day sold 1.22 million, according to Nielsen Music. McCreery was the first country act to open at No. 1 with his debut album, as well as the youngest male artist to top the chart with a debut. Christmas With Scotty McCreery, released in 2012, sold 416,000 copies, while his last studio album, 2013’s See You Tonight, moved 279,000 units.
The above post is from Billboard. Why would a label invest any further into a failure. Lots of praise for him but low sales. No one every increase sales after their first release after “Idol” He tried.
albert
February 4, 2016 @ 8:21 am
If you aren’t working from a place of integrity , passion and originality , your 15 minutes is up in about 10 in these times….. …and even then ….
Charlie
February 4, 2016 @ 8:41 am
Oh, if only . . . #kardashians . . . smh.
Convict Charlie
February 4, 2016 @ 8:22 am
I was totally against Scotty as an artist coming out of idol. I thought he was a poor imitation of josh turner. Why would we need another one? After seeing him a few times live even when he was doing quality covers I’ve grown to like him more. I wish him the best. Banked 100k from idol plus some endorsements, and a signing bonus from the label most likely. He isn’t hurting for money like many others. Hope he can retool with another label that better understands him.
Stringbuzz
February 4, 2016 @ 8:23 am
I hope it works out for him..
Compared to so much trash out there, he has always come across as a class act.
Jessica
February 4, 2016 @ 9:31 am
My daughter always liked him because of his morality and values… Both of which are in rare supply in Trashville. I wish him the best too.. As a mom.
Nash Fargoâ„¢
February 4, 2016 @ 1:22 pm
Scotty needs to interact with his fans. His Twitter page looks like is was Corporate made. There are a LOT of Store-Bought Followers there. I don’t believe his Numbers for a second.
The “Nashville” mentality is that it’s beneath a “Star” to respect their Followers. But I know what it really takes to get them. And I know TV stars who Follow everyone who Follows them. @sherylunderwood from The Talk on CBS is a great example.
It’s a whole new world out there. Scotty can do well if he reaches out to his fans on a much more personal and respectful level.
Fans are WAY more fickle than they used to be. And they have always been fickle.
Scotty has a great voice. It’s a shame, but from his first video about “girls” I could see he compromised his beliefs.
Now he has the freedom to do it Right. Hopefully he’s stronger now. And hopefully, he can find or create some wonderful material.
I’m willing to stay in his corner for awhile longer.
albert
February 4, 2016 @ 5:15 pm
“Fans are WAY more fickle than they used to be. And they have always been fickle”
In part because they have a gazillion options now .
nascarfan999
February 4, 2016 @ 6:10 pm
Almost every one of Scotty’s songs was one where I said “good voice, but something’s missing”. Whether it is in the instruments, lyrics, or whatever, I don’t know, but it just always felt to me there was a key ingredient missing from making any of his songs a hit. I certainly think part of it is his deep voice that doesn’t seem to get showcased nearly enough, but I also think the songwriting hasn’t been great either (especially for See You Tonight).
Paulo
February 4, 2016 @ 8:26 pm
It’s bullshit. I was a fan of Haley Reinhart’s but could aknowledge Scotty’s talent.
How’s Lauren Alaina still signed???
Charles Murphy
February 5, 2016 @ 3:40 am
Wait…Lytle Management handles McCreedy? Everyone in town knows their primary focus is Gary Allan and anyone else beneath him as their #1 client will be ignored or pushed aside so they can promote Gary as much as possible. That why Joe Nichols split that management co long ago.
BTW….McCreedy comes from American Idol…easily disposable like the majority of the rest of those that come through a competition singing show. If ANY of the 3-4 singers that have been successful off that show would’ve tanked, you wouldn’t still be hearing of them either.
Trigger
February 5, 2016 @ 11:25 am
It’s Scotty McCreery, not McCreedy. McCreedy killed herself a couple of years back.
These smarmy comments reek of an agenda and a bone to pick by pissed off people who can only see their side of a story, and are generally inappropriate to this discussion. I already deleted one, and am only leaving this one up to make an example of, and to tell you it’s not welcomed here.
Charles Murphy
February 6, 2016 @ 10:46 am
McCreedy…McCreery……oooppps. Guess I must’ve confused since they both have something dead.
Motown Mike
February 6, 2016 @ 11:42 am
I hope with Sara Evans being dropped from her label that means sometime in the future we get more of the “Suds in the Bucket”, “Coalmine”, “Backseat of a Greyhound Bus”, “If You Ever Want My Loving” Sara Evans. That girl had an amazing country sound to backup an even better country voice. Maybe she’ll latch onto an independent label and record more high quality, consistently country material.
Kathleen L. Stevens
February 6, 2016 @ 5:11 pm
I have followed Scotty Mccreery ever since idol, five years, been to numerous concerts, read anything I could to get information on him daily. Let me tell you this, he has one of the most beautiful voices that I ever heard, stage presence a plenty and is one of the most decent, ,moral people you could ever meet. I do not appreciate any nasty comments to him or about him.. Never heard him make a nasty remark about anyone and he does have all the fans and many ,more not even in the count who love him. If this world had more like him it would be a better place. He loves his fans, treats them like family, and is so respectful to each and everyone of them. He brought myself as well as many more back to country music, real country ,music. This stuff on radio now is a disgrace to real country music, plain and simple it is garbage, not fit for young people at all. Something was most definitely wrong with his management, so many good songs were cut off that should have been released. Triggerman hit the nail on the head, glad he got to understand Scotty, he was not fake, he is a real country voice and he was screwed. Nothing was m,ore evident in that statement than when he did not release forget to forget you, that song is beautiful, the fans adore it. Who said no to that because Scotty said at one of his concerts that I am not done with that song. and it was not heard again. Hopefully, another label will pick him up and can record what he wants. His fans will continue to support him, pray for him, and love him no matter what happens. Thanks Triggerman for telling it like it was, mismanagement.
Rick
February 6, 2016 @ 7:12 pm
What the label actually said to Scottie was “sayonara” but your phonetic spelling was close enough! (lol)
Shell
February 7, 2016 @ 12:01 am
Nobody in their right mind drops Scotty McCreery from their record label, how totally absurd. If there was any actual dropping going on here other than a true mutual parting of the ways, then I hope it was the other way around and this was Scotty’s decision. In any case, I hope UMG issued Scotty a prompt refund of all the non-reinvested $ they have made off of him since day one. Oh wait, that $ was probably used to fund the manufacture of Hunt’s career. No worries though since Scotty is pretty much going to own the country music industry one day, so it’s all good.
hey elmer
February 11, 2016 @ 8:28 pm
The undeniable truth is that Scotty — in his own simple, understated way — is a country purist. That said, modern country music has almost zero place for purists. His heroes (Alan Jackson, George Strait, etc.) can’t even get consistent airplay, and they’re legends! How is a guy like Scotty ever going to climb the charts when those who came before him and laid the groundwork can’t even find a viable spot on the charts? It’s very disheartening. Guys covered in tattoos who wear flat brimmed hats are KILLING it on the charts, and their music is very far from what pure country sounds like. I can’t say that Scotty would’ve ever been a huge country icon – but he at least could’ve been given a fair shake, and he wasn’t. It is incumbent upon record labels to start taking stock in what the genre they represent sounds like, and they’ve all allowed the genre to become three things: 1) partying, 2) backroads/trucks, 3) hot girls. And, it’s the same songwriters on essentially every single! The net for the best song isn’t being cast far & wide enough in Nashville. Using the same writers yields the same result time and time and time again. The art of songwriting has been dumbed down, which consequently, has minimized artists’ credibility when they go to radio. The result – artists are forced into releasing two to three horrendous singles and their careers TANK. Scotty suffered the fate of his label execs being buddy-buddy with the hot songwriters/producers in town, and Scotty was forced to cut songs he had NO say in, and more than likely no belief in. Artists have to be artists at the end of the day, or their believability hangs on the cross.
shirley strickland
April 9, 2016 @ 5:15 pm
If Scott B is the one from 19 unverial picking songs for scotty no wonder it did not o anywhere. He showed on American idol he can not pick songs for country singer and I can not believe Simon Fuller listen to that man. Scotty Mcreerly is a great country singer and after losing so many great singer we need him. Stop screwing Scotty and get him back to Nashville
nichole
September 6, 2016 @ 1:53 pm
I think him and Taylor swift need to work together.maybe they will date in the end.?
Diana Carlyle
September 9, 2016 @ 9:20 pm
I support Scotty with my time and money so that he can succeed to be a role model for generations of young people. Listen to his catalog of songs and tell me none of them are number one hits because there are many. I have no nn idea why the songs were picked to be singles because there we’re much better ones to choose from. I thought you released the very best as singles and the rest we’re just fillers to round out the album. I don’t get why they did what they did. Scotty’s voice soothes my soul like none other ever has. I hope to live long enough to see his whole career arc and into retirement.
Beverly McEvers
June 10, 2017 @ 10:29 pm
Scotty is original and always should be his own director. Listen to that “first” voice you hear as God always speaks to us softly. Never doubt his plan for your life be your own hero.
A true fan forever
Amie
July 24, 2017 @ 12:11 am
I think he is a talented young man. I don’t understand why they would drop him. Perhaps, he is too clean? Record companies have no taste.
NessTea
October 13, 2017 @ 5:45 pm
At a recent Neal McCoy concert, he said
“You know what happens when your label drops you? You get to record the songs that YOU WANT TO.”
May not hear Neal on “current” radio, but he’s still got a following & is very successful. Ticks me off that I can only hear my fave artists on an
“Oldies” station. Being dropped may be the best thing to happen to Scotty. (and many others)
When are the “powers that be” gonna get their head outta their a$$ and get a clue?