PG. 24 JOHNNY PACHECO RIP PG. 26 THE NEW SCIENCE OF SUPERFANS PG. 30 AUSTRALASIA TOURINGA
FTER A VIDEO LEAKED
to TMZ of rising country
artist Morgan Wallen
using the N-word on
Feb. 2, radio cut his songs, streaming
services dropped him from official
playlists, his booking agent stopped
working with him, and his label
“suspended” his recording contract.
The Academy of Country Music even
deemed him ineligible for this year’s
ACM Awards. He was essentially
exiled from the music business.
Except by fans. Wallen — who on
Feb. 10 issued a video apology say-
ing, “I fully accept any penalties I’m
facing” — is now spending his fifth
straight week at No. 1 on the Bill-
board 200 chart dated Feb. 20, with
his 30-track Dangerous: The Double
Album. Wallen was helping lead the
genre into the streaming era, appealing
to a new generation of fans. But then
his behavior thrust country music’s
lack of inclusivity and diversity under
serious scrutiny — and started a public
conversation about the work it needs
to do, both to update its practices andto reach beyond its core audience.
“One ignorant guy took the rest of
us down with him as quickly as that
drunken slur came from his mouth,” a
leading Nashville industry executive
recently told Billboard, which featured
Wallen on the cover of its Jan. 16
issue, when the music business was
still betting hands-down that Wallen
would be country’s next global super-
star. “While he sits on the sideline, the
pressure is on the rest of us to advance
the genre and remind the world that
not all country music artists, creators
[and] executives are this way.”
Wallen’s label, Big Loud Records,
and other associated businesses
have been struggling to navigate
the issue. “They’re thinking about
music fans, they’re thinking about
influential voices within the music
industry, and they’re thinking about
other prospective artists whom they
might want to welcome onto their
label someday,” says Sean Smith,
executive vp reputation practice at
public relations firm Porter Novelli,
who helped lead crisis managementfor the Obama administration.
In his video apology, Wallen asked
fans not to defend his actions and said
that he had begun meeting with Black
leaders and stopped drinking. (He
noted the TMZ video showed him at
the end of a 72-hour bender.) But his
followers haven’t stopped streaming
or purchasing his music. Wallen’s
airplay collapsed after iHeartRadio,
Entercom and other radio conglomer-
ates stopped playing his songs, but in-
creased sales and on-demand streams
by fans who can no longer hear him
on the air have kept Dangerous atop
the chart. “It’s not surprising. Morgan
has a very devoted fan base,” says
Leslie Fram, senior vp music strategy
at CMT (which has pulled all Wallen
programming from its platforms). De-
spite Wallen’s apology, she adds, “Any
of his fans who felt he was wronged
in any way came to his defense by
buying the album.”
Movements like #MeToo and Black
Lives Matter have created a new era
for artists and the companies that
work with them. Days before Wallen’svideo leaked, actress Evan Rachel
Wood publicly accused rocker Mari-
lyn Manson of sexual abuse, leading
his label, agent and manager to drop
him. (Manson has denied all claims,
calling them “horrible distortions of
reality.”) Weeks earlier, label Mexican
Summer dropped indie-rocker Ariel
Pink for attending the Jan. 6 rally in
Washington, D.C., for then-President
Trump that turned into a riot. (Pink
has said he was there to “peacefully
show my support for the president”
and did not participate in the insur-
rection at the U.S. Capitol.)
Music companies are acting faster
than ever in the wake of such events.
“Labels are, in essence, public figures
now,” says Smith. “They need to be
responsive to public opinion in ways
that they’ve never had to before.”
That’s especially true for public
companies like Warner Music Group
and, soon, Universal Music Group,
whose Republic Records works with
Big Loud on Wallen.
Big Loud swiftly issued a statement
saying it had decided to “suspend”Market
VIVENDI WILL PROCEED WITH UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP’S INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING BY THE END OF 2021. SPOTIFY ADDED FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL MONA SUTPHEN TO ITS BOARD.Nashville canceled Morgan Wallen. His fans haven’t. How record labels
decide what stars to stand behind — and which ones to drop
BY TATIANA CIRISANO‘ Labels Must Make
A Business Decision’
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ILLUSTRATION BY ISRAEL G. VARGAS FEBRUARY 20, 2021 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 2 3