All of you are right about whats going on with Scotty and other artists regarding Mickey, Danielle Bradbery and Lauren Alaina. Deb is also right though in the sense that for a long time its been focused on playlisting and stuff during the chart run and the song peaking but try to look at things in the long run. Yes, its super disappointing hes not on the playlist and he DESERVES it as he really needs that kind of stuff to take him to the next level but at the same time, we have to be happy with his growth, which is something not every artist can say. I think Damn Strait will hit #1 but again will get the playlisting late therefore not peaking on Hot Country and Hot 100 as high as it deserves at its radio peak BUT like folks said, this song is rising on streaming organically and looking at its other metrics like itunes, it's really impacting and looking to be Scotty's biggest hit in a while. Due to that, I could see this song having high recurrent play and due to that possibly being on bigger playlists for a while after this song peaks. Even with You Time, I think when it peaked it was at like 12 million and I was super disapointed but now its almost at 20 million (just on Spotify) and looking at other #1 hits by other artists, that isnt terrible (especially since if Damn Strait is the big hit I think it WILL be, it inevitably will bring more listeners to his other music especially lead single from current album). For Scotty right now, i thiink the goal is GOLD or Platinum singles and a GOLD album. Truthfully at the moment, Scotty is tracking to miss out on GOLD this album BUT like folks said earlier, it really really depends on how Damn Strait performs and then the next single.
All in all, there are disappointing things happening with Scotty (regarding Spotify) but every other metric and his star is rising and we need to focus on that, ya know. Though he isn't on a label who has pull for major awards and award show performances, if he keeps getting hits that impact like this, his star will keep rising which in turn raises his labels status (that's why I root for anyone on the label lol). His next single is HUGE for the trajectory of his career though and his team really needs to take account the current music landscape and marketing strategies (y'all are right, he can increase his social media presence and though hes not that type of guy, he can hire someone), use his current tour to gauge fan reaction to songs, PD and industry reactions etc. He's one I'd like to do a Deluxe version of this album with a more surefire hit (Lauren Alaina and Mickey too btw) bc though I think there are radio hits on the album, I don't hear one that would impact like Damn Strait and he honestly needs consistent eras like Seasons Change (sans In Between as that I felt slowed his momentum) to really get to that A list status we want. Hopefully one day when TT artists get bigger, Triple Tigers gets more pull and can have slots at CRS (which gives artists a lot more attention) and get their artists nominated for awards and more high profile performances. I look at everything as the whole picture now rather than just about Scotty. Triple Tigers right now has a fantastic radio department which is key but Scotty has to do more to get the attention of the playlists we're talking about bc idk if Triple Tigers has the $$ or spotify connects anymore so it may be about him creating organic buzz (which he has the capability to do!)