What does Zac Brand Band need to do to win an award?
All they do is sell out concerts and crank out one #1 hit after another...
I'm actually a little worried about them.
Uncaged won a Grammy but its sales are notably down from
You Get What You Give, and the sales for that album were notably down from
The Foundation. They used to sell a lot of singles too...nearly all the singles from the first 2 albums went Gold or Platinum. "Goodbye In Her Eyes" was a big radio hit and it did reach Gold but "Jump Right In" is off to an unusually slow start on iTunes...everyone else in the top 25 is out-selling that one by a good bit, except for newcomers Dustin Lynch and The Henningsens.
I'm honestly wondering if JRI will make it to #1. It's not doing much at radio to set itself apart from the latest releases from guys like Jake Owen and Kip Moore, and JRI couldn't put up a fight against Tim/Taylor, TBP, Brad, and Jason. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that this big "pack" has spread out a little bit, but the fact that JRI has sifted to the bottom of the group is a little concerning, especially now with new tunes from Blake, Luke, and Hunter all speeding up the chart.
It just seems like they've lost some momentum, despite GIHE being a 3-week #1 hit and the opening week sales of
Uncaged being much higher than the openings of their previous albums. Those first 2 albums had much better longevity. I really wish they'd release the duet with Amos Lee, "Day That I Die", after JRI, as I think that would be a big hit and could prove to be a big album-seller as well, but it sounds like Zac wants to have a new album out this year yet so a 4th single seems unlikely.
As for award shows, they're on their own label so their chances of winning an industry award are very small. The Band Perry, Eli Young Band, and Rascal Flatts (RF is past their prime though, I admit) are all on the Big Machine label group so they have a lot of power behind them. Little Big Town and Lady A are both Capitol/UMG and that's the biggest label in town. If Gloriana gets big enough to be one of the final 5 nominees, they'd have all of Warner Music Nashville backing them.
Zac has basically stated that he understands this. They made some comments earlier this year after winning the Grammy that this is the "big" awards show that they focus on, because they feel like they have a much better chance at the Grammy's than they do at the ACM's or CMA's. I'm not saying they'll never win Group of the Year at one of those shows, but I think the odds are stacked against them and they know it too. In any case, I can't see them putting together a string of victories like RF did in the past, or Lady A did more recently. Now, the momentum seems to have shifted to LBT with the 2 main adversaries being still Lady A and also the quickly emerging TBP. The EYB could be a force in the near future as well.
There was a Music Row article in which Jason Aldean's team at BBR hinted at just how hard they had to work to get him the Male Vocalist award this year...I'm sure there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff and label politics involved and it seemed like Jason's camp didn't really think they'd be able to come out on top, despite his monstrous year and all the 'campaigning' they must have done, so they were thrilled when he actually did pull off the upset and win it, snatching the trophy from the favored Blake. I could see the ZBB winning an award or two in the future, but they'll have a better chance in the Song & Single categories than they will in the Group category...maybe they get lucky someday and win Group of the Year, but they might only win it 1 or 2 times in their career, if at all.