CMT vows equality in airplay for female artists 'effective immediately'

Looks like CMT is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to delivering on its vow to fight for female equality in the world of country music.

The network announced today via Twitter that it would be playing music videos by male and female artists on its channels at equally proportional rates:

"Effective immediately all music video hours on CMT and CMT Music channels will have complete parity between male and female artists," the notice read. "That means 50/50. #CMTEqualPlay"

Before today, CMT and CMT music channels were currently showing videos at a proportion of 40 percent female artists to 60 percent male artists.

SVP of Music and Talent at CMT, Leslie Fram, released a statement in support and excitement of the new policy change:

"Time is really up in 2020! All the talk around what can be done to support females in country music needs to transform into action, once and for all. At CMT, we are stepping up our own commitments, in addition to our work through the CMT Next Women of Country Music franchise, and will be announcing a new initiative in the coming weeks that will spark this much-needed change in our industry."

The decision comes after Fram and CMT made waves in last week's episode of Full Frontal With Samantha Bee where the discrimination between male and female representation in country music was discussed on camera with talent (including artist Brandi Carlile) and other industry members:

“There are a lot of myths all there, myths that women don’t want to hear women on the radio," Fram says in the above clip.

"You can’t play two women in a row … believe it or not radio is still king [in country music]. So I feel like we’re training people not to hear female voices.”