Thomas Rhett launches Fifty-One/Forty-Nine Records with Blue Highway
Thomas Rhett will put his future recordings out through his own Fifty-One/Forty-Nine Records, working in partnership with Blue Highway Records.
The arrangement was announced on 6 October and makes Fifty-One/Forty-Nine the home for Rhett's recorded music, according to Music Business Worldwide. Blue Highway is the Nashville-based company owned by HYBE America.
Rhett said the deal gives him the opportunity to own the body of work he spent his entire career creating. In practice, that points to the masters, the original recordings that decide who controls and earns from a catalogue. Blue Highway described Fifty-One/Forty-Nine as an artist-led record company founded by Rhett and built around long-term ownership, creative independence and artist development.
The announcement gave no financial terms. It also did not set out the ownership structure of Fifty-One/Forty-Nine.
There are some clues in the small print of recent releases. Fifty-One/Forty-Nine Records, LLC appears in the copyright line of Rhett's 2024 album About a Woman, which was released under exclusive licence to The Valory Music Co. That is an agreement that lets another label put the music out while the underlying rights sit elsewhere. The name is also in the copyright lines for the 2025 deluxe edition of About a Woman and the live EP Thomas Rhett Live from Fenway Park.
His 2022 album Where We Started carries a different line. It lists Big Machine Label Group. The new announcement did not say whether the arrangement covers recordings Rhett released before About a Woman.
The history stretches back to 2011. Rhett signed to The Valory Music Co., part of Scott Borchetta's BMLG, that year. HYBE America rebranded BMLG as Blue Highway Records in February, with Jake Basden as chief executive.
Blue Highway operates as HYBE America's Nashville country and roots-rock division, according to Digital Music News. Its roster includes Brett Young, Midland, Justin Moore, Carly Pearce, Preston Cooper, Jackson Dean and Mae Estes, as reported by Variety. Rhett was listed among the artists represented when the label launched in February.
For fans, this means the name on the sleeve is changing, even if the voice stays the same. New Rhett music arrives on his own imprint, with a Nashville label built for country behind it.
