Scott Borchetta Cites Sturgill Simpson As Proof of Success Without Radio
Big Machine Label Group President & CEO Scott Borchetta is entering a new era in his influence over American Music this week as the current American Idol season has reached the phase where his position as “mentor” to contestants comes into full play. Announced in December of 2014, Scott Borchetta has partnered with the singing competition to not just guide the contestants, but eventually sign the winner to Big Machine, despite previous comments disparaging the singing show that caused original American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson to lash out against the label owner. Borchetta’s role in the success of Taylor Swift has made him one of the most respected executives in the music business today.
During a phone interview Thursday afternoon (3-12) ahead of Scott Borchetta’s appearance on American Idol, he was asked to comment on the quotes from Sony Nashville CEO Gary Overton who said a couple of weeks ago, “If you’re not on country radio, you don’t exist.” Not only did Borchetta somewhat disagree with Overton’s assessment as being “very broad,” he cited Sturgill Simpson as an example of why this take on music success is not always the case. As MJSBigBlog reports, Borchetta’s response was,
It depends on which lane you want to be in. That is a very broad statement, and you could shoot holes in it all day long. You can look at an artist like Sturgill [Simpson] who has a fantastic career that he has built from the ground up. You can look at several different artists that are just a little bit to the left of center, that have built great careers. If you want to play in the mainstream country game, you’re not going to win it if you’re not winning it at mainstream country [radio]. I look at that as a very specific thing.
Scott Borchetta has presided over numerous successful acts that didn’t receive any radio play. The Mavericks weren’t shown any love from radio, and their comeback album In Time did very well on Big Machine’s Valory Records imprint. When Scott Borchetta signed Taylor Swift, it was still a big question if she could be successful on country radio. Meanwhile Sturgill Simpson’s success reinforces the idea that there’s other avenues and measurements to the success of music that don’t take into account mainstream country radio play. Many country artists in the Texas scene took exception to Gary Overton’s comments as well, including Aaron Watson and Charlie Robison.
Amidst the fracas in the aftermath of Gary Overton’s comments, Sturgill Simpson was performing live on Nashville’s independently-owned a locally-focused Lightning 100 on March 1st. “We’re on the radio! That means we exist,” Sturgill said poignantly on the program. It’s not unlikely that Simpson was courted by Big Machine after the success of his recent album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Sturgill eventually signed with Atlantic.
READ: Charlie Robison Pens Epic Response to Gary Overton’s “You Don’t Exist” Quote
March 12, 2015 @ 5:32 pm
[quote] If you want to play in the mainstream country game, you”™re not going to win it if you”™re not winning it at mainstream country [radio]. [/quote]
I mean, we’re not going to give you even a remote chance to prove that you CAN win on mainstream radio, so just be thankful for your scraps and leave us kingmakers to our formulaic drivel…
March 12, 2015 @ 6:07 pm
Wait, I thought he didn’t exist.
March 13, 2015 @ 2:02 am
How can he NOT cite Sturgill? 100K albums sold, Grammy nomination, Letterman twice, Tonight show, Opry/Ryman/Carnegie Hall appearances, sold out tour all because of an album that (mostly) the masses have never heard? All in less than a year.
March 15, 2015 @ 8:40 pm
I believe that Mr. Borchetta is tremendously talented, should be respected, & admired for all he has accomplished. I believe anyone fortunate enough to be signed w/ BMI is incredibly fortunate. I must add that I can say that abt many ppl in this business. I like to look at it as if we are all one big family, whose goal is to help make ppl w/ a God given talented a chance to see their dreams come true. I don’t believe that one is way better than the other, but we must find what compliments one best than the others. I also don’t think things happen by chance. I sincerely feel that God is in control of everything including whatever role you play in this biz. It should not be abt the radio, bc there are so many ways I’m still learning to listen to music, to make the music, to sell it, to promote it, etc. I’m glad Mr. Simpson’s name was cited!ðŸ‘. I mean Taylor Swift knew what she wanted & glad Mr. Borchetta saw it, too!â¤ï¸ðŸ˜˜#TeamBeth
March 13, 2015 @ 4:21 am
Can I just say how giddy I am with excitement regarding Sturgill’s next release? He and the band were in the studio in January, correct? That was supposedly the plan. Now with the new label surely there’s a schedule that has been written up. Once this current US tour is over, everything will be geared up towards the release of album three, yeah? Might there be a single before summer? The Album before fall? Which direction will he take us? Wowee I’m biting my nails like a teenager waiting for the next One Direction photoshoot.
March 13, 2015 @ 9:26 am
I’ve just been hoping for the past 9 months we don’t get some heavily EDM-influenced country fusion monstrosity that will break everyone’s country music hearts. Anything above that will be gravy in my opinion.
March 13, 2015 @ 6:46 am
Reptile aliens already proved that Sturgill Simpson exists–on a stack of turtles. Duh.
March 13, 2015 @ 7:48 am
Sturgill Simpson, Aaron Watson, Charlie Robison…all artists that have released their music through Thirty Tigers.
March 13, 2015 @ 9:52 pm
Jason Isbell as well.
March 13, 2015 @ 8:46 am
You could have titled this article, “The Devil went down to Georgia, looking for a soul to steal…”
March 13, 2015 @ 9:56 am
Don’t forget about Aaron Watson!
March 13, 2015 @ 10:45 am
I was actually hoping for a Sturgill Simpson story because I have a question for those here who are more knowledgeable about this than me. How good of a guitarist is he? He looks really good to me based on the YouTube videos I’ve seen, but I also thought Brad Paisley was a great guitarist until I discovered this site and found out otherwise from commenters who appear to understand technical proficiency. Thanks.
March 13, 2015 @ 11:58 am
Sturgill Simpson is one of the best telecaster players I have ever seen live. He can smoke pretty much any other player off the stage aside from the topmost players like Johnny Hiland, etc. You could even make the case that he’s a better guitar player than anything else he does. It’s an angry, bluegrass-infused fury. He’s the Jimi Hendrix of country guitar playing. Of course, you won’t see that in his stage show these days. You have to go back to the Sunday Valley era to see what he could do.
March 13, 2015 @ 12:52 pm
Agreed, but…who’s better on guitar? Sturgill or Laur “Little Joe” Joamets? I’d love to see those two going back and forth in a duel like Neil Young and Stephen Stills in the Buffalo Springfield days.
March 13, 2015 @ 1:27 pm
Little Joe has said in interviews that Sturgill has really been coaching him on how to play, and the last time I saw Sturgill live, Laur’s playing reminded me a lot of Sturgill back in the day. We’ve also been seeing the guitar playing featured more and more live as Laur’s stint in the band has progressed. I still think Sturgill is better on guitar, but as Sturgill would tell you, he wouldn’t be where he is if he was still doing what he did with Sunday Valley. There may be a point in the future where that side of Sturgill will be more palatable to bring out, but he first needed to establish himself as a singer and songwriter for people to take his music seriously. If Sturgill was still doing the Sunday Valley thing, he’d still be struggling to fill midsized clubs.
March 13, 2015 @ 1:05 pm
Great – thanks for the response!
March 18, 2015 @ 6:36 pm
I wouldn’t mind hearing an explanation from someone technically on Brad Paisley’s playing. The critique’s I’ve seen are that he has technical skill but his style and tone is off.
For my money I’ll take Vince Gill over any country frontman on the telecaster including Sturgill. I agree he’s very good but I’d guess there are other bluegrass players who could play that way too… but ones that could sing like Sturgill and play, maybe not.
Aside from frontmen I’d take Kenny Vaughan, Johnny Hiland, Clint Strong (more of a jazz guy these days).
March 13, 2015 @ 11:09 am
I hate mainstream radio. Mainstream radio ruined country radio because mainstream radio hates country music like Brad Paisley. Why can’t music public goes by music videos and internet? I want my streaming music/internet/music videos, music. I’m sick of radio. Why streaming can’t dominate the music industry? I’m sick of radio is bigger than streaming music. I want my streaming music. >:(
March 13, 2015 @ 5:16 pm
You know a few months ago I would of told you I didn’t agree because “streaming takes money away from an artist when they deserve it” but I came to the realization wednsday that the labels get all the the money from album sales while artist only get money from concerts
So music streaming
Keep on truckin’
March 14, 2015 @ 2:59 pm
this is NOT correct….for the millionth time….it depends whether the artist WROTE the song or not…The person(s) who created the “hit” you are referring to get most of their income from performance royalties. (the writers do NOT go on tour!) Streaming would be supported completely by the creative music community when and ONLY when, streamers start to pay a fair royalty rate equal to or above current terrestrial radio rates……
got it?
March 13, 2015 @ 3:21 pm
I would say Borchetta has it just about right.
Currently, we’re at a point where independent country artists apparently *can* build and sustain careers with little or no radio play, but being a mainstream country artist is still a “very specific thing” which requires making it on country radio, because that’s still the name of the game circa 2015. That’s the reality, and if Overton had simply said that, nobody would have minded; his comment would have gone unnoticed by the public, except perhaps by those who read California Country’s “Quotable Country” roundup each week.
Anyway, I think things are changing. It used to be that there was mainstream country, and alt-country, two separate worlds. But seeing Aaron Watson at the top of the charts outselling multiple mainstream acts who released albums on the same day sure makes it seem like the lines are starting to blur just a *little* bit.
Relative to rock and pop, it has taken country music a longer time to develop a robust independent music culture, but I would like to think that the success of guys like Watson and Simpson (among others) has put a small, hairline crack in the facade of country radio’s dominance. And although terrestrial radio is still more powerful than many would think, especially in the country music field (and Trigger has done an excellent job of illustrating that), it is gradually losing ground, and its dominance won’t last forever. So the question becomes, how will the mainstream Nashville label system, the entire business model of which is centered around radio play, react in the coming years? Will it attempt to adapt to the internet / social media age and learn how to successfully market country artists without always relying on radio play, or not?
March 13, 2015 @ 3:31 pm
I would also bet that certain mainstream artists are jealously eying guys like Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell and thinking, “Dang, if those guys can make it completely on their own terms AND without having to go on radio ass-kissing tours five times a year, why not me?”
For example, I don’t know if Jamey Johnson is aware of those guys in particular, but either way, he seems like he’s planning to follow the “Sturgill” business model.
March 13, 2015 @ 6:54 pm
OH BOY! not another one
March 14, 2015 @ 3:53 pm
Scott Borchetta seems like a very intelligent with his music. He know what going on with the music world.
March 20, 2015 @ 11:25 am
Just want to say.
I’ve been playing guitar since 1st grade.
Bands, everything.
In my 40s now.
Not that I am great, but I have an appreciation.
I saw Simpson in February.
Lil Joe was simply awesome.
I’ve been to hundreds and hundreds of concerts.
Not many of those did the guitar player get a 60 second non stop ovation.
Simpson can play.
Lil Joe is something specail.
Can’t wait for more.