Big Loud Records Expands Into Australia

Big Loud Records is ready to make a noise in Australia.

The U.S.-based independent music company, the label home of Morgan Wallen, is expanding its activities into Australia and the U.K.

According to Billboard, Big Loud senior vp of global marketing and strategy Brianne Deslippe will oversee the rollout of the country-focused label, with Johnno Keetels, most recently a teammate at Universal Music Australia’s media and editorial department, takes the reins for the Australia arm as label manager, based in Brisbane.

Australia and the U.K. mark the second phase of Big Loud’s international footprint, following the launch of a Toronto, Canada office in 2015.

“We waited for the best strategic time,” Big Loud CEO Seth England tells Billboard, “but now makes the most sense with how we’ve grown as a company. We continue to keep an eye on other emerging markets as well.”

Based on the outstanding recent success of country music on streaming platforms and on the live front, Australia appears to be a sound choice for Big Loud’s business.

Following a national tour by Morgan Wallen, produced by Frontier Touring, the U.S. country star’s music went gangbusters on the ARIA Charts.

Wallen topped both main charts, with One Thing at a Time (released through Mercury/Universal) leading the albums survey and “Last Night” (Republic/Universal) logging multiple weeks at No. 1 on the singles tally.

When he achieved the “chart double” in April, Wallen became the first male American country singer to achieve the feat in more than three decade (the last was Billy Ray Cyrus, back in October 1992 when he ruled with his hit single “Achy Breaky Heart” and the album Some Gave All).

Nashville, TN-based Big Loud Records’ roster is also home to Jake Owen, Lauren Alaina, Chris Lane, HARDY, MacKenzie Porter, ERNEST, Ben Burgess, Dallas Smith, Ashland Craft, Larry Fleet, Griffen Palmer, Shawn Austin, Lily Rose, Jake Worthington, and Ashley Cooke.

MacKenzie, HARDY and ERNEST and others on its books have enjoyed breakthroughs in these parts and should be well-known to Aussie country music fans.

Powered by Wallen, Luke Combs and other stars of the genre, Aussies streamed country music 1.1 billion times in the first half of this year, according to data published by Luminate, and based on country’s top 500 songs.

Australia is ranked No. 3 for country music, behind only the U.S. and Canada. And in another sign of the boom for country, Michael Chugg, the first-ever recipient of the Country Music Association’s Rob Potts International Live Music Advancement Award, this year teamed for the launch of Wheelhouse Agency, a new booking agency backed by Chugg Music, Select Music and country music manager Dan Biddle.