Old Dominion Representing Country Music in Spotify Emerge Campaign

Old Dominion is the opposite of an overnight success story. They're the hare in a tortoise business, and recently they've taken the lead. A high-profile tour, a record deal and a prestigious Spotify campaign are a few of the spoils of hard work the "Break Up With Him" singers are enjoying.

The band called Taste of Country from the road in Chicago, several weeks into the Spotify Emerge campaign. Basically, they're up against nine other bands in a competition for follows and streams on Spotify. Each week, a new act is eliminated. The contest goes through early May, but OD will need help if they're going to stick around until then.

The winner stands to pick up a pretty package of promotional considerations, Sperry shoes (the shoe company is a sponsor) and $20,000 to perform at a live event in July. In a way, Old Dominion may have already won. Spotify and SiriusXM were first to take interest in a group that'd been working hard since the mid-00s. Together or separately they've crafted numerous hits for other artists (Chris Young, the Band Perry, Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley). In fact, as of this week they have three active singles on the Billboard chart — four if you count the next Shelton single, "Sangria."

Kenny Chesney's team took notice next. The two acts share the same management company, but Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, Whit Sellers, Geoff Sprung and Brad Tursi say they didn't just get the slot on over a dozen stadium dates as a favor. It was down to three acts, but the buzz around Old Dominion was undeniable. They became the first independent act to join Chesney ... ever!

But that's changed now.

Since signing up for the Chesney tour (which also includes Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert and Cole Swindell), Old Dominion started talking to Sony Music Nashville, and after hundreds of shows and songs and big ideas that didn't pan out, they inked with RCA. The deal was announced last month. "Break Up With Him" — a hit on SiruxXM and fan-favorite — is their first Sony single. But nothing will change for the group.

Old D tell ToC Sony really wanted to work with them for them, not who they "could" be. And they could be big very quickly. This summer, their tour schedule is packed, but they'll do a radio tour when they can. A typical day could include playing a radio station conference room under hot halogen lights before taking the stage in front of tens of thousands of Chesney fans at Ford Field or Gillette Stadium. The dichotomy is stunning, but this group is used to rolling with anything thrown at them.

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