CMA Ommitted Nominee For Musical Event

Friday, September 11, 2009

CMA Press Release:

Subsequent to the CMA Awards nomination announcements on “Good Morning America,” CMT’s “Insider Special Edition: 2009 CMA Awards Nominations,” and Premiere Radio Networks, it was discovered that Brad Paisley and Keith Urban were inadvertently omitted from the list of final nominees for CMA Musical Event of the Year for “Start A Band.”

The omission occurred when transferring information from the online ballot to the list of final nominees.

“We take the integrity of the CMA Awards balloting very seriously,” said Tammy Genovese, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “And when an oversight like this occurs we commit ourselves to a thorough review, thoughtful and immediate correction, and complete disclosure and accountability to the artists and our industry.

“I can assure CMA’s valued constituents that we have examined every detail of the ballot for other discrepancies and all other categories were correct as announced.”

“Start A Band” will be added to the list of nominees for the final ballot and all previously announced nominees will remain on the list.

“All of the nominees for Musical Event of the Year are deserving and in the interest of fairness will remain on the ballot for the final vote by our membership,” Genovese said.

“We sincerely regret the omission of these two deserving artists from the list of nominees and apologize to Brad and Keith, and their representatives, for any confusion,” Genovese said.

The additional nomination gives Paisley a total of seven nominations – the most of any artist nominated for the 2009 CMA Awards. Urban’s nomination count jumps from four to five. Zac Brown, Jamey Johnson, George Strait, and Taylor Swift each received four CMA Awards nominations.