Scott Borchetta

Scott Borchetta
Born (1962-07-03) July 3, 1962
Burbank, California
Nationality American
Occupation Businessman, record executive
Known for Big Machine Records

Scott Borchetta (born July 3, 1962) is an American businessman and record executive best known for founding Big Machine Label Group and for discovering singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.[1] He started the label in 2005 with 13 employees, as its president/CEO and today it encompasses four imprints: Big Machine Records, BMLG Records, The Valory Music Co. and Nash Icon Records. [2] In 2015, he became the new in-house mentor on American Idol for the program's 14th and 15th seasons.

Before Big Machine, Borchetta was a race car driver and an executive at the Nashville divisions of DreamWorks Records and MCA Records as well as MTM Records. [3][4]

Early life

Borchetta was born in Burbank, California [5] to parents Shari and Mike Borchetta. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California in the 1970s. His father, Mike Borchetta, worked in record promotions for several Los Angeles record labels, including Capitol Records, RCA Records and Mercury Records. In 1978, when Borchetta was 16, his father moved to Nashville to start his own independent record promotion company. [6] He continued to develop his passion for the music industry through high school and college.

Career

Early career

Interested in life beyond Los Angeles, Scott Borchetta began to pursue his love for music. After playing in several rock bands, he left California and moved to Nashville with his father. There, Borchetta played bass in a country band and spent his days working in his father's mail room promoting country singles. After 8 months on the road, he left his band since they were not finding success. While working with his father, Borchetta learned a great deal about the music industry and how it operates, and used this knowledge to pursue jobs at record labels. In 1985, he got a job at MTM Records, where he stayed for three years. He then spent two years working as an independent promoter before working in promotion and artist development at several other record labels, including MCA Nashville Records, DreamWorks Nashville and Universal Music Nashville.[6]

Big Machine Label Group

In 2005, Borchetta made the decision to leave Universal Music Nashville to start his own independent record label, Big Machine Records. From his experiences with working at several record labels,[7] Borchetta realized that he disagreed with how major labels run their business, and felt that he could run his own label more efficiently than what he had seen.

Soon after starting the label, Borchetta signed his first artist, Taylor Swift (whom he had met in 2004) when she was 14 years old. Swift would eventually go on to become Big Machine's most successful artist and win the label two Grammy awards for Album of the Year for the albums Fearless at the 2010 Grammy Awards and "1989" at the 2016 Grammy Awards. Soon after signing Swift, Borchetta also signed two other artists to Big Machine: Jack Ingram (who would produce the label's first #1 song on country radio, "Wherever You Are")[8] and Danielle Peck.[6]

Personal interests

Borchetta is a race-car enthusiast, and has been a race car driver for many years before starting his record label. On the topic, Borchetta says, "I’ve loved race-car driving for years. When I started Big Machine, my main investor and my first artists asked me to give it up because it’s so dangerous."[6]

References

  1. ↑ Butta, Philip (2011-11-21). "Meet Scott Borchetta, the Music-Industry Maverick Who Launched Taylor Swift". Fast Company. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
  2. ↑ Willman, Chris (2012-06-13). "Scott Borchetta on Taylor, Tim, Martina, the Band Perry… and the Personalized Machinery of Big Machine". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
  3. ↑ Lindquist, David (24 July 2012). "Big Machine's Scott Borchetta Discovered Taylor Swift After Discovering Racing". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  4. ↑ "His Music Never Stops". The New York Times. 2011-03-12. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  5. ↑ The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Oxford University Press. 4 January 2012. pp. 198–. ISBN 978-0-19-992083-9. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "His Music Never Stops". The New York Times. 29 March 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  7. ↑ Music Exec. "enamored" by 14-year-old Taylor Swift http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50143840n Retrieved 29 March 2013
  8. ↑ Biography- Big Machine Records http://www.bigmachinelabelgroup.com/story/biography-big_machine_records/biography--big-machine-records Retrieved 29 March 2013
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