Loud And Live’s Nelson Albareda On Country Bay Music Festival & Establishing Miami As A Destination For Country Fans

Loud And Live – the Miami, Florida-based entertainment, marketing and live events company that prides itself on being the largest independent Latin promoter – is preparing to welcome fans by land and sea for the second annual Country Bay Music Festival.
Zac Brown Band and Carrie Underwood top a lineup that features Dustin Lynch, Chase Rice, Diplo presents Thomas Wesley, Chris Janson, Niko Moon, Parmalee, Gabby Barrett, Chayce Beckham and more.

The festival takes place Nov. 9-10 at the waterfront Miami Marine Stadium, located minutes from downtown Miami in Key Biscayne, with ticket options including the chance to bring your own boat (BYOB).

The festival grounds boast a bunch of fun experiences including a mechanical bull and line dancing at the revamped Saloon; rides, games and funnel cake at the Country Carnival; and football watch parties at the Boots & Beer Garden.

Pollstar caught up with Loud And Live CEO Nelson Albareda to chat about Country Bay Music Festival 2024 and the connection between Latin and country music.

Pollstar: How has the response been to the second edition of the Country Bay Music Festival?

Nelson Albareda: We had phenomenal feedback from consumers [after year one]. We did a survey and 98% – which I’ve never seen for any of our events – of festivalgoers said they would like to come back. Fifty percent of the attendance last year was skewed heavily Hispanic. … We had a huge pre-sale for second year attendees and that presale did probably five times more than our presale on the original.

Tell me about the Bring Your Own Boat ticket.
It was the first time that any event at Marine Stadium did a boat pass. It was very successful last year. We actually sold out of boat passes and this year we brought it back. It added a lot to the festival; just the fact that we simulcasted the festival to the boats [with] big screens right on the bay.

You’ve spoken before about the connection between Latin and country music. Can you share more?
First of all, country is very rooted in cultural values that are very similar to Latinos. Just the music itself and the genre is about storytelling, about values, struggles, the American dream, which is no different really than Latino culture. We’re about working hard. We’re about enjoying life. The music itself is storytelling. So it’s all about, “My girlfriend left me and I lost my job and I want to buy a boat” and all that good stuff, which is very similar to us.

When you look at a lot of the country genre and the artists themselves, they’re very loyal to promoters, to agents and it is very similar to Latin music. We have artists that have worked with us from the beginning. And it doesn’t matter what other promoter comes and provides an offer, they want to continue to work with us. …

There is a lot of crossover [with] fans. I think one out of four country music fans in the U.S. are of Latin origin. … I’m a sixth generation American with a Cuban background; my wife is Puerto Rican. My kids were born here, speak fluent English and they are Hispanic kids and they listen to country music probably more than Latin music. … Today, music has no boundaries.

How did you approach putting together the lineup for the second year?
We did a lot of surveys and social media posts to ask [fans] which artists they wanted. And we want to continue to represent Miami and the fact that it’s not your typical country market; we also added Diplo and we’ve had a lot of good feedback on that.

Let’s talk about Miami becoming even more of a music destination.
Miami is becoming more and more a music hub – L.A., Nashville and Miami I think are the three hottest spots right now for music in the U.S. and, for that matter, on a global level. And Miami’s no longer just about Latin music. … Look at Ultra, which started in Miami. … Last year, about 50% of our attendance came from outside Miami. … We want to continue to position it as a destination festival. It’s no different than going to see Carrie Underwood in Vegas. Come see Carrie Underwood in Miami.

What’s new this year at Country Bay?
We’re [expanding] a second stage for emerging artists as well as making a bigger Saloon for line dancing. It was very successful and reached capacity throughout the whole [2023] festival.

Are there any artists that you’re particularly excited about?
I’m a big Zac Brown Band fan. It’s probably one of the first artists that really got me into country. And they have a huge fan population in South Florida. And with Carrie Underwood, there’s a big audience as well in Florida. My wife in particular is a huge fan.

Anything you wanted to add?
We wanted to make sure that we establish the festival as a true country music festival. But with a diverse dynamic of South Florida and Miami specifically [having] such a big Hispanic DNA, I can see in years to come [artists like] Carin León being part of the lineup [and looking at] how do we bring in Latin artists or even Pitbull who has a huge fanbase? How do we make it the diverse lineup of both genre as well as ethnicity?