Screenshot of the Big Loud artist roster page, which includes Morgan Wallen once again.
Big Loud/Republic has now lifted its suspension of Morgan Wallen, according to a quiet reinstatement issued this morning (May 18th).
Last week, we first reported that Morgan Wallen wasn’t getting dropped by his record label Big Loud, which is partnered with major label Republic Records/Universal Music Group. Now, Wallen has officially been reinstated by Big Loud after a suspension that lasted nearly four months.
Big Loud hasn’t issued an announcement on the matter, though the label quietly reincorporated Morgan Wallen back into its online artist roster list earlier today. That follows strongly supportive comments from Big Loud CEO Seth England, who recently praised Wallen’s musical talents and declared that “cancellation is a slippery slope.” Just days later, Big Loud footed the bill on a birthday golf outing with Wallen, who just turned 28.
In early February, Big Loud officially suspended Wallen after he was filmed uttering the n-word outside of his residence in Nashville. Others promptly canceled the artist, including Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, SiriusXM, Willam Morris Endeavor, the Academy of Country Music, and nearly every country radio station in America. That would be enough to kill most careers, though the cancellation only served to increase Wallen’s popularity and sparked the beginning of a record-setting album sales streak.
Outside of album sales, Wallen’s fanbase has been making plenty of noise following the mass-cancellation. Multiple broadcast radio stations reported receiving angry calls from Wallen fans, most of whom threatened to ditch stations that dropped Wallen from their playlists. Separately, Wallen fans have been protesting the singer’s exclusion from the ACM Awards and Billboard Music Awards by putting up massive billboards in both Nashville and Los Angeles just prior to the events.
It’s unclear what the Big Loud ‘suspension’ actually entailed.
Shortly after the announcement, a dedicated feature page for Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album appeared on Spotify, which strongly suggested involvement by Big Loud staffers. It’s also likely that Big Loud continued to manage backend tasks for Wallen, including royalty accounting and consultations with the artist.
Now, all of that returns to being above board, though it’s unclear if Republic Records and its parent, Universal Music Group, are ready to make similar moves. At present, Republic still maintains an artist page for Wallen, though the singer remains missing from Republic’s artist roster list.
Whether others follow suit and ‘un-cancel’ Morgan Wallen also remains unclear, though Big Loud could trigger a domino effect.
Several days ago, SiriusXM-owned Pandora lifted its ban on Morgan Wallen, potentially in response to attrition by country music fans. That follows a softened stance by Spotify, which reintegrated Wallen into a number of country playlists, but stopped short of reintegrating Wallen into its marquee Hot Country playlist, which boasts millions of followers.
Others are still unready or unwilling to relax their Wallen bans. That includes most major broadcast radio stations, which are controlled by a small cabal of corporate parents. SiriusXM is also on the sidelines with its satellite radio stations, and William Morris Endeavor has likely severed its touring agency relationship with the artist permanently.
Morgan Wallen is the best selling artist of 2021. No surprise here.
Yes, he is! I think he needs to drop his record label !!
Yeah, “suspension” … well played Big Loud
What is the obsession that DMN has with this artist? They just want comment and traffic to the site, apparently. It just makes DMN look desperate and weak.
And here come the idiotic comments….!
The best thing about this is watching liberal heads explode with anger.
As much as this is a game to you, this isn’t about liberals. Nice try. It’s about facts. There’s no anger. There’s just fact. Wallen is a racist. He said things now once, but twice, and I’d bet anyone he’ll do it again.
Whenever you comment, no matter what name you use (because you use many), you sound stupid.
Thanks for playing. Now, go burn a police station.
Sorry, I’m not part of the Proud Boys group.
More expected foolishness from you. Typical.
Yes, those BLM T-shirts were a ruse. Same for the burning and looting in Minneapolis, St. Louis, Philadelphia, etc. All those black faces were really white guys in face paint.
A lot of artist have said something racial and they still continue to remain on the Billboards Awards Let’s all stop judging other artist, when it’s very clear Morgan Wallen is not a racist! Other artist of the same skin color call each other racial words to one another! That needs to stop!
it’s always clear others aren’t racist to other racists.
Fool, he used it as a term of endearment. Get off your high horse.
You’re an asshole…and I mean that in the most endearing way, of course.
What was the first racist comment ? You are pulling shit out of your ass
Do your own research, lazy. It’s out there. Or, maybe, you’re so racist that you don’t think what he did (twice) was racist? Just wait, he’ll do it again…and you will say it’s ok, again.
Please stop saying “Racist” already! That word is so overused it just doesn’t mean anything anymore!
It’s awesome to see someone in here who is absolutely Perfect!! congrats on never before saying anything that others may think is wrong. You are definitely one of a kind.
Yesssssssss ??? this right here ☝️ Best comment yet ! Morgan Wallen is THE MOST TALENTED ARTIST !! Us country music fans have been waiting a long time for some real country and he’s it !!!
Good journalism. Covered everything I’ve seen and read lately on fan groups and more. Of course DMN should cover this story. All media should be. It has been unprecedented what has been going on here if one chooses to live in the natural world as opposed to the media’s virtual world, aka the world of new wacko liberalism. The scale of Wallen’s achievements alone prove my point. This is the one artist with the biggest album of the year so far, and the fourth biggest country album of all time, and he, at the same time, is currently also a cancelled artist. What could be a bigger music news story in the natural world. Nothing of course! Claiming this situation is not a story is a classic attempted subversion technique by someone trying to change reality, but is a ludicrous assertion. The fact that this Wallen and American music fans’ saga is a media non story is actually the biggest story of all in this whole debacle. His detractors want it to be a non story, because they know the continued cancellation argument is weak and will not be supported by the majority whenever it is reported on or discussed. Why else come out this coment section and make ridiculous statements, such as calling Wallen a racist with no evidence of such except the use of a word, and calling all his fans stupid with no evidence of such.
This week we hit a turning point. One media outlet actually, finally gave the fans a voice in this whole matter via took statements telling our position for the first time, and these fan quotes were actually shared to other media outlets who also published them. These few outlets are breaking the self-imposed strangle hold that’s been placed on this story by the MSM, and these few media outlets should be commended for standing up and practicing the tenets of a free and fair press, which is against their code.
The support groups must keep fighting and pointing out the continued hypocrisy in the music industry, such as artists engaging in pornography being accepted and even praised, while using a word on your own property in a private conversation is not. The naysayers may claim it’s not politics guiding their views about Wallen, but when you follow up that claim up with calling someone who was caught using a racial word in a non racial context on his own property a racist and thousands of supporters stupid, you’re revealing your own bias and simple-mindedness by bowing to the tenet of critical race theory without being willing to discuss the logic of your assertions.
A lot of terrible people achieved a lot of great things. That justifies? You’ve lost your mind. You make a lot of claims that are completely false. More words in a comment doesn’t make it true.
Well said Greg!
I will take this seriously the day one record company drops a rap act for using the N word.
Until then they’re all a collection of greedy hypocrites.
And you’re an idiot trying to justify the actions of a racist country artist. Who woulda thunk it could happen?!
Coming from the king of tards…ha, ha. You’re the master of disaster.
You did not answer the question. Try again?
I think Mr. Wallen is being targeted because he is having big success with real music, and race hustlers/MSM/Marxist overlords hate this. There is racial animus going on here, but it’s not coming from Mr. Wallen.
Thank you for doing the right thing Big Loud!!!! Forgiveness is always the right answer! Not to mention Morgan Wallen is the best Singer/ songwriter/ Ive ever heard !!! ❤️
They did the right thing when they suspended him. You’re right.
Thank you for causing his album sales to skyrocket!!!! You are a true hero.
His album sales skyrocketed because most Americans are racist.
I know. You keep saying that and saying that.
Wallen is a singer.
Wallen is a country singer.
Wallen is a top selling country singer.
Wallen is a racist.