I have searched the net to find as much of what Kenny Chesney said backstage last night about the Entertainer award as I possibly could before piecing together my thoughts here. The best article comes from CMT and here's a few snippets:

"It is an industry complaint that I have," he explained. "That's all. I'm so excited to stand up here tonight, and that's important for everybody to know."

"The entertainer of the year trophy is supposed to represent heart and passion and an amazing amount of sacrifice, commitment and focus. That's the way Garth [Brooks] won it four times. That's the way I won it. That's the way [George] Strait won it... and Reba [McEntire] and Alabama all those years."

"But I don't think it's right that they picked the one award that means the most, that all the artists sacrifice the most for." He said they changed the category "into a sweepstakes to see who can push people's buttons the hardest on the Internet. I don't think that's right, really."

"I think it's a complete disrespect of the artist -- what they've lowered us to, to get entertainer of the year. Because of that, it really diminishes the integrity of the music that we're making and how much work goes into it. That's what really matters. That's what entertainer of the year really is. It's not about flying somebody to some shows and giving free songs away -- and giving this and that -- and seeing how hard you can push people's buttons on the Internet. As much as I love the ACMs and what they've done for my life, that's how I really feel about it.. And I can say that because I won tonight."

Ok, so Chesney obviously has a major gripe here. And, rightfully so. Someone in Rascal Flatts' camp decided to, literally, make voting for the ACM a giveaway. If you voted on Rascal Flatts.com, you received a live version, rare and never released, of "Winner At A Loser Game." Now, you didn't have to vote for Rascal Flatts, but I mean, seriously.

But here's one piece of the puzzle. The Tennessean found out that the ACM identified those online votes and did not count them in the final tally. Of course, the ACM had the right to do that and more - Rascal Flatts could have, and probably should have, been disqualified as a nominee.

I should also mention that the ACM made special videos for each artist to display on his official site. Those were NOT label made.

After Chesney's comments, of course the first question is: what now? Does the ACM go back to the old-style of "industry only" voting? The organization has remained mute to every media outlet and, as of now, is refusing to address that publicly. Normally, the night after the awards, all the bigs get together and pat themselves on the back and look to next year. I guarantee they talked about this already.

The ACMs and, for that matter, the CMAs, have always had the clout of being "better" than the CMTs or any of the Country Weekly, TNN, etc, etc., awards because they are voted on so exclusively and elusively. Perhaps it needs to stay that way. Can you imagine Carrie Underwood or Taylor Swift taking, let's say Female Vocalist of the Year, for a whole decade because of Myspace campaigns? All credibility would be lost.

Kudos, though, to the ACM for trying to incorporate the fans. Maybe a new category is in order - like the Canadian Country Music Association's "Fan Favorite" award. And also, kudos to the ACM for taking immediate action on the matter before the show. They no doubt avoided a possible catastrophe.

Keep this in mind. Yes, fans are the reason why artists have careers. But the ACMs are not a popularity contest. The fans can have their CMT Awards. Let the industry have their day with the prestige.

You know, at these award shows it is always said that the "big winner" is whoever wins the top prize. It just so happens that the top prize is the "Entertainer of the Year" trophy at both the Country Music Association's and Academy of Country Music's award shows.

But in my opinion, that's a bad way to judge the top dog of country music. As last night's host Reba McEntire pointed out, no woman was nominated for the prize, which means no Taylor, no Carrie. It has been, for the last few years, a short list of the most successful men in country. The validity of the award has been diminished; I mean, after all, Shania had the top tour in all of country, #3 in music, and was passed by the CMA in 2004.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that I don't count Kenny Chesney, now 4-time winner of the ACM Entertainer award, last night's big winner. No, I believe the big winner of the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards was Miranda Lambert.

Lambert's career has, for quite some time now, been on that verge. She is still "B-list" but is right on the cusp of being a superstar. Her radio success has been hit and miss, she is often passed over in the award nominations, and, generally, she's just another artist in country music.

That changed last night.

Finally, after her great showing on Nashville Star a few years ago, having two #1 country albums, Lambert has won a major award from the country industry. Maybe now radio will see her as a star and not a wanna-be.

Let's run through her stats real quick: Lambert has a platinum album with Kerosene, almost has a top 10 hit (both "Kerosene" and "Famous in a Small Town" stopped just short), but for the last three award shows she has lit up the stage. The whole time radio was turning the other way, Lambert was sending out incredible music - "Bring Me Down," "Me & Charlie Talking." Both of her albums are stellar. You won't find a more hardcore Texas rompin' album than any of Lambert's.

She now has the fuel to push her over the top. "Gunpowder and Lead" is poised right outside the top 20. She performed a hot version of it last night, and the album its on (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) won for Album of the Year. The ACM got it right here - though it was a close battle between Lambert and album-mate Brad Paisley.

Because of the potential of this win for Lambert's career, there is no doubt in my mind that she will be the big winner from this year's ACM Awards. I believe the Album of the Year trophy will make the industry look again at Lambert's music and what she can do for the genre. Really, her music is pure gold and, arguably, some of the best stuff out of Nashville. The critics at Music Row Magazine named her Artist of the Year and critics everywhere put Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as their top country album of the year.

Maybe now Nashville will turn its blind eye back and give Lambert the success she has so long deserved.

Ever since Napster in the early part of the decade, the music industry has found itself on its knees to illegal downloading. Signs show that it may not be getting any better, as the physical cd market continues to collapse. The latest issue of Billboard quotes the industry down 12 percent from last year, the year where the cd logged its lowest sales ever.

And things aren't getting better - not in New York, not in Nashville. Sure, Mariah will pull over 500,000 next week, but what do we in Nashville care? There's no Shania on the horizon. There's no Garth popping up any time soon.

I posted a report last month that received little attention from fans in country music. Did you know that iTunes now sells more records than Wal-Mart? No big whoop right? Wrong. Wal-Mart is country music's #1 seller, and they are now #2 in the US music market. Do you realize that Music City hasn't made the digital jump? Not even 20% of sales last year for country stars were digital. We have to be careful here, though, because Carrie Underwood moves mountains of digital sales - but she is an "Idol."

Well, I found another flattering article about the music industry - this time the UK has something to say. The Guardian reports that over 58% of music in the United States isn't paid for. Can you believe that? Listen folks. That's a lot of music!

One thing is for sure: you cannot blame the Internet solely for what's happening. If the Big Three (UMG, Sony/BMG, EMI) had come together with Napster, we wouldn't be seeing this. Limewire wouldn't be thriving, music wouldn't be dying, and we would all be happy. But this isn't the brunt of what's happening.

UMG wants to charge more than $.99 for its music on iTunes. In fact, NBCU has pulled its television shows off iTunes because of disagreements over how much to charge. Garth Brooks has refused to put his catalog on iTunes because he says the $.99 isn't enough to pay royalties. It gets better. The labels also want to take more money from radio, take more revenue from concerts, and there is now a serious push to get iTunes to bend to their will. Each of the three have agreements now with MySpace Music, have their own music stores, push through Amazon, and have finally gotten rid of the DMR fight.

Yes, you understand me. The labels are already a sinking ship. It's almost like they want to sink even faster. Instead of embracing the digital revolution, the Big Three would rather kill themselves by fighting iTunes. You can't argue numbers, and iTunes has the numbers. I wish I had the answer here, folks, but two things are for sure: Good music will sell regardless (Shania Twain moved 5.5 million albums in the height of the pirating frenzy) and the digital market isn't going away. It's already up 25% over last year - it's best year ever.

But I think we all need to learn a lesson here. It's time to buy the music we love. The newer acts can't make it if we don't. And really, $.99 isn't much more than a pack of gum. If we want to keep our favorites afloat, it's time to support them with our wallets. There's not much more that can be done at this point. It's time for the fans to admit that this problem exists and, really, the only way it can be fixed is if the fans fix it themselves. 58% of music is stolen. Imagine being a business owner - what would you do if your customers stole 58% of your merchandise. You'd be furious. Maybe it all comes full circle, eh?

And, if for any other reason, think of the positive side. You can now get a whole album for less than a gallon of gas. I'm kidding. But seriously, go get a gallon of gas, a loaf of bread, and a gallon of milk. Wa-la. You just bought Lady Antebellum's new album from iTunes.

Stay tuned....