Scott Borchetta
Some people are just gifted with a great voice, other people are gifted with great emotion, other people are gifted with great engagement - when you find all of those things in one package, you have Taylor Swift.Collection: Great
My father was in record promotion in Los Angeles. He worked for Mercury Records, Capitol Records, and RCA Records. My parents divorced when I was about 9. In 1978, my dad moved to Nashville and opened an independent record promotion company, Mike Borchetta Promotions.Collection: Dad
I learned that you could beat the big guys with desire, passion, and hard work.
If you look at most of our roster, we've got great singer/songwriters. I'm always attracted to that.
Because we are Nashville-based and predominately a country label, people obviously think of us in that way, and that's fine.
I grew up in Southern California. I played in rock bands out here, and I've been around pop music my whole life. I've been around all music my entire life.
Something that I've told all of my young artists is, there are going to be haters. You're going to read things that are going to hurt you. It's not going to make any sense. Just know that it's out there and that it's really easy to just press 'delete.'
You've got to believe in yourself.
Are there a million people out there who would love a Joey Cook album? I think there probably are.
The camera is the gatekeeper to the audience that's watching you.
As an artist development platform, we've proven that all the work done behind the scenes at American Idol, along with surviving the rigors of the intense live shows, can properly prepare a winner for a real-world music career opportunity.
There are a lot of similarities, even though we're in two different businesses: There's the Taylor Swift business and the Big Machine Label Group business, but there's a huge intersection there. When we're together, it's limitless.
There is no way to keep your thumb on the pulse unless you have your thumb on the pulse, and I think we have it.
Our entire goal is to make something that moves you... if you don't want to call it country, I don't care. That doesn't matter to me.
We're a content company. And if we create the best content, every distributor will want what we have.
We try to stay on the edge of the mainstream and look at what the most aggressive young kids are running toward.
If you listen, people will tell you exactly what they want - whether it's a business relationship or a consumer relationship.
Our focus is still on country, but, really, on whatever music our artists are making.
We're not too top heavy with executives. I don't have to check with New York or L.A. My crew walks in, we talk about something, and either we do it or we don't. There's not a long, drawn out process.
Relationships feed on credibility, honesty, and consistency.
I'm being myself when the camera is rolling.
I learned a long time ago, Don't ever doubt the power of Taylor Swift.
Every day is an adventure, and no two days are ever alike.
The end game is always a hit song.
It doesn't matter if it's social media or radio media or television media - it's all media, and it's all marketing. It's about understanding where your fans are. And when you have infiltrated them, and they're satisfied, and there's demand, how do you grow it from there?
I'm not a 'practicing' musician anymore. I played bass and guitar. I still pick up a guitar around the house every once in awhile.
We decided when we were building Big Machine that we wanted to be a Harley or a Ferrari.
If you stand for something, that means there are going to be people who support you and people who don't support you.
It's a rare opportunity when you can do something for the greater good.
When we signed Taylor Swift, people said, 'You're signing a 15-year-old female country artist? Good luck!'
You can have all personality in the world, the looks, etc., but if you don't have the songs, it doesn't close the deal.
If you think back to the beginning of the label, we knew we had to strike quickly and aggressively and go for the brass ring.
Auto racing has been a big part of my life since I was very young. When the car feels right, it's like, 'We've got a big machine.'
For the label to grow, it has to have great executives who understand the culture, understand the mission, and can lead. I don't want to be part of every decision.
Part of the mission of Nash Icon is taking away some of the day-to-day, hand-to-hand combat that you have to do to continue the mainstream country-radio relationship.
The nicest thing that my friends who've known me for 15 or 20 years say to me is, 'Man, it's crazy that you're the same guy.' It's like, 'Which guy did you expect me to be?'
It's such a loud world out there, so it's important to be able to be ubiquitous across formats.
The reality of recording, it's one of the most intimate things that an artist ever does because if you do it right, you're exposing yourself, and you're expressing your emotions, and those are the key attributes to a big record that really connect with people.
I think when we do our job right, our artists don't sound like anybody else. I have a real hard time with voices that sound like other big voices.
I don't want to worry about someone calling me and going, 'You better find a way to get another Taylor Swift record out this quarter.' When there's that kind of financial pressure dictating your path, it's hard to take creative risks.
I go by the rule of Gretzky: you gotta be there before the puck gets there, or you're going to get beat.
Season 1 of CTV's 'The Launch' exceeded our wildest expectations!
If we don't have great music, we're not any company.
What's on the edge? What's next? That's where I think I do my best work - if I push my whole team to the edge.
There's no reason people should be hungry in our country. It's not acceptable.
The last thing we want is for radio to say that they can't afford to play our artists and turn off the pipe.
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California in the 1970s. My friends and I were into bicycle motocross and into skateboarding in empty swimming pools. Those activities shaped my generation.
I attended College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, Calif., for a year, but college wasn't for me. I was curious about life beyond Los Angeles.
In 1985, I went to work for MTM Records, Mary Tyler Moore's Nashville record label, and stayed three years. After that, I spent two years as an independent promoter, then worked for MCA Nashville Records, DreamWorks Nashville, and Universal Music Nashville.
When you break an artist, you learn a lot.