Brotherly Love: What happens when a style or sub-genre of country takes over? Country Aircheck's Lon Helton moderated today's (2/26) "State of the Music: When a Style Becomes a Movement" panel featuring Albright & O'Malley & Brenner's Becky Brenner, KRTY/San Joe's Nate Deaton, WXTU/Philadelphia's Shelly Easton, Nielsen's Jon Miller and Warner Bros.' Victoria Nugent. The oft-maligned "bro country" took center stage. "I am so glad the listeners didn't get the memo about bro country," said Brenner, adding sometimes there's a difference between critics' opinions and fan feedback from radio's "front lines." "You know what's really a problem? The drinking songs," expressed Easton. "Give us a little more variety." Deaton added there are too many songs today with inappropriate language. "Give us songs that don't have swear words in them," he said.

Nugent's sales data was evidence bro country is a huge and meaningful part of the genre, with "bros" Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line being the two biggest sellers. Miller's data revealed the country genre has a 15.2 share nationwide, yet after two years of growth in 18-34 and 35-44, "We're back to where we were two years ago," he said. With millennials being the largest existing group, Brenner said they are the key demo. "We have to figure out how to engage the 18-34s – they think differently," she said.

Helton wrapped with a discussion on gold libraries. "We have to use emotional intelligence to choose our products," said Easton, pointing out that FGL's "Dirt," with its thoughtful lyrics, would someday be perfect for gold while "Sun Daze" probably wouldn't work. After taking audience questions ranging from bro to ballads, Helton closed the session with humor. "We just spent 50 minutes to say, 'Just play the hits your listeners want to hear,'" he said.