10 Questions with ... Scott Stem

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

I attended Belmont University and interned in the PR department at CBS Records from 1987-1988, and then with PR firm, Pam Lewis & Associates from 1988-1989. I was hired at Pam Lewis & Associates upon graduation in Dec. 1989, where I handled publicity for artists such as Garth Brooks, William Lee Golden, Janis Ian, Townes Van Zandt, Ronna Reeves and others. Pam co-owned Doyle/Lewis Management with Bob Doyle, and I was transferred into that company as an in-house publicist in late 1990, where I remained until Bob and Pam separated in 1994. There, I handled publicity for Garth Brooks, but also worked with Trisha Yearwood, Great Plains and Hank Flamingo. From 1995-1998, I was employed simultaneously by both GB Management, where I worked with Garth Brooks and Bob Doyle & Associates, where I handled publicity for Ty England. When Garth quit touring at the end of 1998, I became Vice President of Publicity for Capitol Nashville. I worked with the entire label roster, which included Garth Brooks, Ty England, Steve Wariner, Trace Adkins, Keith Urban, Chris LeDoux and more. I left Capitol at the end of 1999 to head up the publicity division of Force Inc. under Nancy Russell in 2000, where I worked with Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, Travis Tritt, Peter Frampton, Ty England and others. After leaving Force in the Spring of 2001, I started Scott Stem Publicity and handled publicity for Peter Frampton, Ty England, Mark McGuinn and others. I joined CMA as Senior Manager of Media Relations in 2002, and was promoted to Director of Media Relations in 2006.

1) It seems like a miracle that after this year's flood you were still able to have the CMA Music Fest. How did you guys pull it off?

Mayor Karl Dean and the city of Nashville did an outstanding job of helping our city come together and get through this disaster. They christened CMA Music Festival as "the Grand Re-Opening of Nashville" and did everything possible to get Riverfront Park in shape for our Daily Concerts and the downtown areas ready for our fans. We also have to give a lot of credit to the Tennessee Titans organization at LP Field for working tirelessly to get the stadium in shape for the Nightly Concerts, TV production, media interview space and much more. And of course, the entire CMA staff, led by our Chairman of the Board Steve Moore, worked as a team to make this year's event the best yet.

2) You must be very pleased with the outcome of this year's Music Fest--can you give us your thoughts on what made this year different from other years?

We were thrilled with the results! This was the biggest CMA Music Festival in its 39-year history, with more than 65,000 fans from all 50 states and 26 countries in attendance each day. We always have strong performance lineups, but this year's artist roster was outstanding.

Fans from around the globe came here to support our city while the locals came out in force to celebrate Nashville's signature music event. The Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau gave a conservative estimate that CMA Music Festival brought in direct visitor spending of more than $24 million, which was a huge win for the hotels, restaurants, honkytonks, stores, tourist attractions and other businesses in downtown Nashville.

3) Can you give us a snapshot of your job description at the CMA--all of us at All Access know about the 42,000 press-releases you send out during the year?

Ha! Is it only 42,000?

I am the Director of Media Relations and I oversee the media relations efforts for the Country Music Association, publicizing all our events and projects, including the CMA Awards, CMA Music Festival, the annual announcement of the Country Music Hall of Fame inductees, the Keep the Music Playing initiative, CMA Songwriting Series and everything else that we do. I am fortunate to work very closely with a great group of talented professionals, including my immediate supervisor Wendy Pearl (Vice President of Corporate Communications) and my colleagues Maria Eckhardt (Manager of Media Relations) and Dawn Fisher (Communications Coordinator).

I write and distribute press releases and photo captions, pitch stories to the media, coordinate interviews for CMA executives and artists involved in our projects, create and plan media events, credential media and publicists for CMA events, determine media placement on the Red Carpet and in the Media Room at the CMA Awards, liaison with ABC publicists and our outside PR support on media plans for our television specials, oversee the balloting for the annual CMA Media Achievement Award, prepare reports and updates for our Board of Directors, send media database updates to our member publicists on a regular basis, host the Nightly Press Conferences during CMA Music Festival and more.

4) How are this year's CMA Awards shaping up and tell us what your role will be with that?

With the announcements for nominees happening this week, it's too soon to tell. I'm sure it will be another great show with all the talented artists in this format.

I'm involved in the process of determining what date we announce the final nominations, where and how we announce, and what artists we secure to make the announcements, and coordinate media opportunities around the announcements. I write and distribute press releases announcing the performers and presenters for the Awards. I work with ABC, our outside PR support, and our artist publicists on securing artist interviews to promote the Awards and the format. I credential media and publicists for the Awards and determine media placement on the Red Carpet. During the Awards, I route artists through the backstage press room for interviews.

5) How does the CMA create synergy with Country radio?

CMA honors the best in Country radio each year with the CMA Broadcast Awards. With our official radio partner, Premiere Radio Network, we host the only official radio remotes around the CMA Awards and the CMA Music Festival each year. Our marketing team has research information that can be incredibly helpful to radio stations as they interact with potential sponsors, program stations, market themselves in their local area, create promotions and more. Several years ago, we created the CMA Close Up News Service which distributes stories and artist interviews from our member magazine, CMA Close Up, to other media outlets that might wish to use them. It's free content that is perfect for radio station websites. We are the trade association for the Country Music industry, and we invite all Country radio stations and their employees to join so they can vote for the CMA Awards and participate in what we have to offer.

6) You worked with Garth Brooks during his heyday in the '90s. What was that like?

I absolutely adore Garth Brooks and will always be thankful for the role he played in my life and career, as well as the opportunities he gave me during the 11 years I worked with him. He's a brilliant artist, a smart businessman and a genuinely good person. Garth worked harder than any artist I have ever seen. He also treated everyone with respect and kindness. I am very proud of having worked with him.

It's hard to sum up what working with him was like in such a short paragraph. It was a job filled with ups and downs just like all jobs, but it was also an adventure. I might spend one day on the phone securing media interviews for Garth's next album release, the next day arranging visits with children through the Make a Wish Foundation and the following day escorting a video crew to film Reba McEntire and Amy Grant for the "We Shall Be Free" music video. During the last four years I was at GB Management, I shared an office with three of my closest friends (Gary Voorhies, Maria Eckhardt and Karen Byrd). We worked hard every day, but we also laughed every day and supported each other.

7) You have done a lot in your career since graduating from Belmont. What are your most memorable highlights?

My entire time with Garth Brooks was a highlight, but one of my favorite things was accompanying him on his 1994 World Tour to Australia, England, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and New Zealand. Meeting people from different cultures and seeing sites I had only seen in pictures was a fulfillment of a dream. Being in Ireland with Garth was an unreal experience, as he was beloved by the masses. It was estimated in 1994 that one in four Irish households owned at least one Garth CD, and one newspaper claimed he was bigger than the Pope. One of my other favorite things from my time with Garth was working on the publicity for his concert in Central Park in 1997. Standing in Central Park working with the media covering the event while watching Garth perform a great show and at the same time watching the acres and acres of audience members having a blast was just a magical moment that I will never forget.

I've had too many great experiences to name here, but a few other memorable moments that come to mind right now are: working with Wendy Pearl to oversee the publicity surrounding the 2005 CMA Awards in New York City; leading a campaign that resulted in a Grammy nomination for Peter Frampton in 2001; doing publicity for Olivia Newton-John on the opening of her Koala Blue store at Green Hills Mall in Nashville back in the '90s; working with one of the best singers ever, Trisha Yearwood; and booking the first "Tonight Show" appearance for Brad Paisley.

8) How did you get your start in the music industry? Was this always something you wanted to do for a living?

I always knew I wanted to be in the entertainment industry, from the time I was a kid watching the Sonny & Cher variety show on TV. I grew up listening to Country music because my parents loved it. Johnny Cash, the Statler Brothers, Tom T. Hall, Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline - those were the 8-track tapes that my parents played in the car on family vacations. Even though I always enjoyed it, I had planned to move to New York or Los Angeles and work in pop music after I graduated from Belmont. But, I served my first internship at CBS Records in the late '80s and did tour press for Sweethearts of the Rodeo and Mary Chapin Carpenter, and helped on projects involving Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, the O'Kanes and others. I loved the music and decided I wanted to stay in Nashville and be a part of the Country music industry.

My buddy Maria Thompson Eckhardt was working for Pam Lewis & Associates and helped me get an internship there once my time at CBS was over. We worked out of a one-room office: Pam had a desk, Maria had a board over two file cabinets, and I sat on the floor - and I enjoyed every minute of it. We did PR for Janis Ian, Townes Van Zandt, William Lee Golden and others. Pam was co-managing Garth Brooks with Bob Doyle. Garth was working on his first album, Pam had a lot of interesting PR clients, and Pam and Bob had several management clients. I had a feeling if I worked hard and made myself indispensible, that I could turn the internship into a job - and a year later and half later, I did.

9) Who are some of your mentors in the business?

Garth Brooks, Bob Doyle and Pam Lewis taught me a tremendous amount during my years with them. I'll always love those three people and be thankful for the opportunities they gave me and the lessons they taught me.

I was lucky to have my first internship in the PR Department at CBS Records in 1987 with Allen Brown and Fletcher Foster, two of the best label publicists ever. Both were always kind about sharing their wisdom with me.

Patsi Cox, Pat Rolfe, Tony Byworth, Joe Mansfield, Ed Benson, Jo Walker Meador, Bobbi Boyce, Robert Hilburn and the late Joe Harris and Mae Boren Axton all taught me lessons that I will always remember.

I'm very honored to have had a chance to know and learn from all of these people.

10) What are some of the biggest changes you've witnessed in the music industry since you started in the late '80s up until now?

The biggest change would be the internet. Obviously it has changed how music is both discovered and purchased, and our industry is still heavily impacted by that change. It also affects how everyone is getting their news and information. As publicists, we have to incorporate more web media into our media campaigns in order to make a strong impact. It's not always easy determining which websites have strong visitation and which ones don't. In addition, many websites and bloggers are more concerned with being first to "break" news instead of checking their sources to make sure their news is credible. It's a challenge that is both exciting and frustrating to navigate this new world, but opportunities are there for those who find them.

1) What do you like to do on the weekends with your family when you're not working?

My wife and I have two children, a son (age 15) and a daughter (age 12). My son is on his high school tennis team, and my daughter is on her middle school soccer team, a traveling soccer team, girl scouts, drama club and chorus. Keeping up with their activities takes up a lot of our weekends. We enjoy being together, whether we're going out to eat and seeing a movie or concert, or just hanging in the house and playing Wii.

2) What are some of your other interests and hobbies besides music?

I love to read, and I enjoy books ranging from science fiction/fantasy to celeb autobiographies to history. I wear out my Netflix subscription renting movies and TV series that I missed. I love to travel and visit historical sites; in fact my family and I just returned from St. Augustine, Florida, where we toured several landmarks in the nation's oldest city in addition to relaxing on the beach. I have a fascination with cheesy tourist sites like Rock City in Chattanooga, or the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine. I also harbor a desire to become a good cook after watching the Food Network, and plan to start working on that in the coming months.

3) What was the first concert you ever attended?

LOL. The first concert I ever attended was Liberace with my parents when I was around 8 or 9 years old at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville. I was taking piano lessons and my mother thought it would be a good incentive to keep me practicing. It was a great show. As you can imagine, it was very flamboyant - lots of diamonds, costume changes, candelabras, and humor - but boy, could he play piano and put on a show. I remember it very vividly.