Scott Borchetta Adds “Mega Pop Muscle” with New Big Machine Hire
Once again Scott Borchetta adds to his Big Machine Records empire, and once again it is an acquisition that reaches farther into the pop world. Announced Monday, Republic Records Senior Vice President for Promotion and Artist Development David Nathan is transitioning from a position at one of Big Machine’s partnered subsidiaries to Big Machine proper to serves as the label groups Senior Vice President for “Pop Promotions.” The move is effective immediately.
David Nathan will be an executive liaison between all of Big Machine’s respective labels: Big Machine, Republic Nashville, The Valory Music Group, and the recently-acquired Dot Records, which by all accounts hopes to be a home for at least some acts outside of the country genre.
“We’re thrilled to formally welcome David to the team,” Borchetta says. “He’s an incredibly talented and energetic executive who’s always thinking big. David has been involved with Taylor Swift’s history-making crossover success from the very beginning as part of the mighty Republic pop promotion department. I simply could not pass up the opportunity to acquire 100% of his focus to the artists at the Big Machine Label Group. This is another step in the evolution of our company and we know it’s going to bring mega pop muscle for our initiatives. We can’t wait to begin working together.”
The move once again reinforces Big Machine’s focus on the pop world. In April of 2013, Borchetta landed a deal with the pop producer Dr. Luke that allows artists, songwriters, and producers from pop and country to collaborate more freely. It also comes as Big Machine prepares for the upcoming album release cycle from the their biggest star: Taylor Swift. As a huge crossover success already, David Nathan’s skillset will undoubtedly add to her pop infiltration.
“I’m honored and excited to take this next step in my career,” Nathan said. “It affords me the opportunity to do even more and grow both professionally and individually.”
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Random prediction: Taylor Swift’s new album (out likely in November-ish), will include a collaboration with Justin Timberlake on one of the album’s biggest singles.
gtrman86
May 13, 2014 @ 1:56 pm
Scott Borchetta = Stupid
Filler
May 13, 2014 @ 3:56 pm
Awright. What we need for Big Machine Records now is to make its own pop label department for pop music an a good location to make it happen is New York since Taylor Swift is now staying in New York this year. With Big Machine Records making a pop department along with Big Machine Records making a deal with MTV for a Taylor Swift marathon and having the ability to play Taylor Swift’s country songs on pop stations, 2014 is a great year for Taylor Swift and Big Machine Records. Let’s hope Taylor Swift retires her country music career and move her country music department to the pop world along with her first no country music album which is her fifth album and tackling new genres. Good thinking, Scott Borchetta. I can’t wait to see Scott Borchetta making a deal with MTV for expanding Taylor Swift’s MTV department like MTV airs Taylor Swift’s country music videos this year along with adding pop artists to Big Machine Records like Christina Aquilera and Selena Gomez. That’s why Big Machine Records is better than other record labels like RCA. I’ll take Big Machine Records over RCA, Capitol Records, Def Jam, and Interscope any day. Let’s hope Carrie Underwood should join pop music this year by playing her country songs along with making pop music and collaborating with music’s pop stars like Rihanna. Carrie Underwood needs to move away from country music and move to pop. Oh yeah, I don’t recommend putting pop on country music since Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood needs to move to pop ASAP.
Albert
May 13, 2014 @ 10:34 pm
I’m a new-ish fan to the SAVING COUNTRY MUSIC website and hugely supportive of its sincere efforts to do so . And I enjoy and have been enlightened by the perspectives of the site managers AND the comments offered by readers. So please forgive me if I’m a bit confused by the article above . I’m not sure how , outside of just offering a reader information , or why this news pertains to the ‘mission’ . It seems to be giving credibility and exposure to the very forces undermining the site’s efforts to save the traditional honesty and integrity of the genre .
Trigger
May 13, 2014 @ 11:07 pm
This is a fair question Albert, and one that comes up often.
First off, despite Saving Country Music having a pretty robust readership for an independent site, I can’t express how much it pales in reach compared to an entity like the Big Machine Label Group that has advertising budgets in the hundreds of millions. So the idea that somehow me writing an article about them would give them “exposure” that would result in some quantifiable positive gain for them is just not a concern anyone should possess. I also just generally disagree with the idea of not talking about things you don’t like in the hopes they go away. My opinion is we have to take the fight directly to them and rattle their cages, let them know we’re watching their every move, and discussing what impact those moves might have on the music.
Scott Borchetta is arguably the most powerful man in country music right now. And when he says things like he’s bringing “mega pop muscle” to his organization, this is something that very directly affects country music in very substantial ways, arguably much more than what any individual artist is doing. Now this information might not appeal to you, or may even hate to see it. But for some, this is important information about events that are directly affecting the direction of the genre, and so it is vital this information is brought to the public and discussed.
Saving Country Music started out, and continues to be first and foremost a consumer and industry watchdog of country music.
Albert
May 13, 2014 @ 11:28 pm
Understood …and thanks for the reply ,Trigger . I don’t doubt your dedication to the country music genre for a second . In fact I’d be remiss if I didn’t commend you for the recent articles on the new talent to watch for . I just thought I may be missing something when it came to the BIG MACHINE story above .
Trigger
May 13, 2014 @ 11:45 pm
I also forgot to mention that this story fits well within a recurring discussion point on this site about Big Machine and Scott Borchetta that since you’re new to the site, can be understood that you might be out of the loop on. In the end I’m just a big music nerd that finds these kinds of stories very interesting. 😉