Scott Borchetta Looking to Sign Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson & More
Another day, another noteworthy release of information about the potentially historic partnership between Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine Label Group, and the 2nd largest radio station owner in the United States, Cumulus Media. Their “NASH Icons” joint venture that means to re-instill “classic” country artists back to commercial prominence and create a new home for them on mainstream radio has the country music world buzzing about a potential format split, and now we’ve been served some additional insight into the NASH Icons plans via Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey.
During a recent conversation with Billboard Magazine’s Rich Appel, Dickey says Scott Borchetta is aggressively looking to sign many of the artists that fall between NASH Icons’ 25-year artist window, including but not limited to Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson. “I would look for Scott to make an announcement in the next 30 days,” Lew says.
READ: The Split of Top 40 Country & Classic Country Is Upon Us
“It’s not that 35- to 54-year-olds don’t like the hits,” says Lew Dickey. “They just miss the biggest country artists of the last two decades, who are still recording and touring but not getting enough exposure today … While in pop you have the middle ground of [adult top 40] between top 40 and classic hits, there’s really no such thing in country.”
Interestingly enough, Alan Jackson has announced a special June 6th press conference to be held at the Country Music Hall of Fame. This is the same location where Tim McGraw announced his signing with Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine label in May of 2012. It is also where George Strait announced his touring retirement in September of 2012. Garth Brooks has also been curiously mum lately, after saying in late 2013 he wants to return to country music with new music, a big tour, and do it “at a level I’ve never seen before.” Big Machine is one of the few labels flush and fleet footed enough to pull off such a feat.
Cumulus owns over 70 country radio stations, and has access to another 1,500 affiliates through its Westwood One network. According to Lew Dickey, they hope to have the NASH Icons network up-and-running by 2015, but some non-Cumulus owned stations are already adopting the new 25-year format. NASH Icons is also not limited to just a label or radio. Under the new NASH brand, they’ve acquired Country Weekly magazine, and hope to have a huge presence throughout media. “We want to be thought of as an omni-channel, multiplatform brand,” Lew Dickey says.
May 28, 2014 @ 12:20 pm
“It”™s not that 35- to 54-year-olds don”™t like the hits,” says Lew Dickey. That is a crock of shit! This 53 year old cannot stand it!
Top 40 Country and Classic should have never crossed paths.
Jake Owen, Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, Dan + Shay,Thomas Rhett, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Cole Swindell, Blake Shelton, Brantley Gilbert, Taylor Swift.
Take these and instead of calling it * Top Country * call it * Genre * ” A class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like.”
Take away the label * Classic Country * and go back to calling it country!!
May 29, 2014 @ 5:10 pm
You know I have the same problem with the label “classic rock” it sets it aside in this category of “old” stuff that somehow seem to repel young listeners. It is rock music it was rock music before ANY of this current “rock” was around. The only genre that deserves the “classical” label is Classical music if only because I can’t think of better one. There are no “classic jazz” stations or “classic blues” stations around me the just play lots of jazz and blues old and new.
There is no classic “hip-hop” stations either they just ignore anything before 2000.
I’ll say it again young ear need their music history if we want the landscape of mainstream music to change for the better. All the great new acts sure do seem to know a lot about the traditions and roots of their genres and have great respect for the elders. So there must be something to that.
May 29, 2014 @ 6:05 pm
I’m not sure that “classic” will repel ALL young listeners. It may repel many, but I remember when I was growing up, the classic rock station was one refuge on radio when I was in middle school, and I knew other kids my age that listened to classic rock. Then “The Doors” and some other classic-rock era bands got big because of movies and such and for a little while classic rock was trendy. “Classic” can mean “old”, but it can also mean “different”.
May 30, 2014 @ 3:12 pm
So I am guessing you weren’t much of a grunge fan, right?
May 28, 2014 @ 12:43 pm
While I’m still not sure how this will pan out since Borchetta is the puppet master, I’m cautiously optimistic that worthy artists who have unjustly been forgotten and put out to pasture will be the beneficiaries of the exposure that will come out of being part of the Big Machine conglomerate.
There is little doubt in my mind that the artists being considered for this new branch of the BM label group SHOULD be the ones played at the frequency of the Luke Bryan’s of the world, but the nonsensical new reality has them playing a distant second fiddle to the hacks that makeup today’s airwaves. Hopefully this will put some of the focus back where it belongs and offer the spotlight that these artists deserve.
May 28, 2014 @ 1:47 pm
Who’s to say that the new “classic” country format couldn’t overtake Top 40 as far as album sales, tour revenues, and radio listenership? This is what happened when mainstream rock imploded, and classic rock continued. Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, U2, Pink Floyd; these have been the biggest touring acts over the last few years, partly because they never dropped of the radio. And as we’ve seen recently with successful releases from Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, classic country fans actually still buy albums, and can be a huge revenue source for major labels.
May 28, 2014 @ 1:54 pm
That’s exactly my hope, Trig. Bringing the worthy artists back where they belong.
May 28, 2014 @ 12:44 pm
This looks like it’s going to happen even faster than anticipated. Getting Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks on board is pretty important, as they’re two of the biggest artists from the past 25 years. Do you think Lee Ann Womack releasing a new album finally this year was strategic because she knew of this coming to fruition or is it just a coincidence? It sounds like this project has been happening behind the scenes for a while now.
May 28, 2014 @ 1:54 pm
I agree, this thing is developing very rapidly, and could continue to develop very rapidly. When Cumulus launches NASH Icons in 2015, they may be behind the game. Smaller radio stations are already going in this direction, and they may have a big role in defining how all of this plays out.
As for Lee Ann, being on Sugar Hill Records, I think her fate is going to be more centered around the Americana realm, but I certainly think she’ll have a place somewhere in the new classic format. Also, despite however much Scott Borchetta will want to control this, there’s no reason other labels, and other radio station networks, especially Clear Channel, won’t play a big part in how all of this transpires. If I were working in Clear Channel’s corporate offices and reading how Scott Borchetta might sign Garth Brooks in a joint venture with Cumulus, I’d be working overtime and assembling teams figuring out how they can get in on this action.
May 28, 2014 @ 1:07 pm
Things are starting to get interesting, that much is for sure. Granted, them wanting Alan and Garth isn’t exactly shocking, I mean these two were the best selling artist of the 90’s and Alan continued to be for the 00’s. So signing them just makes sense. I’m more interested to see what other “classic artist they sign. Are they willing to get hit makers from this era that aren’t still big names todays, and currently work for smaller or self publish?
May 28, 2014 @ 1:59 pm
My guess is, a company like Big Machine is only going to be interested in the very top artists. Each imprint of Big Machine has about 6 artists signed to it, so my guess is that would be about the limit for the NASH Icons label. 6 is the magic number nowadays for label groups to ensure all artists get the attention they need.
However if “classic” country radio morphs into its own entity, any label could participate in trying to pitch singles from either new artists, or older artists. One of the things that continues to be mention about this is that it will include new music, unlike the classic rock format.
May 28, 2014 @ 1:59 pm
This is pretty much what I would expect.
I would not expect much that Music Row didn’t have a strong hand in promoting.
That is why I don’t listen to any radio at all.
I won’t let a country station or a rock station, or Comcast, define the limits of the genres I like.
May 28, 2014 @ 2:16 pm
In all honesty just see a format that plays newer artists that have a classic sound…three songs off the top of my head that are ‘radio ready’ are along White Line, Dead Mans Blues and Small Township…sturgill, Matt Woods and Hellbound Glory respectively
May 28, 2014 @ 3:51 pm
It’ll be interesting to see how this develops, though I hate to think of the older music being pushed off the radio even more than it is. While I don’t know if our local classic country station (KKYX, San Antonio, Texas) would be in any danger, that whole 25-year window leaves me kinda leery, at least if this is 25 years before 2014. I mean, I see a lot of folks getting wistful for the country of the ’90s and 2000s, but beyond the big hit makers there really wasn’t much there. Just as a few examples, as I said on my own blog some time ago, it”™s worth asking if people like Mark Wills, Bryan White, or Neal McCoy really made any worthwhile contributions to the genre as opposed to being part of a passing fad. And I have my doubts about hearing new music on these stations from the likes of, say, Marty Stuart. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like for something like this to work and it probably could if it was done right, but I just don’t know if there’s enough to sustain it.
May 28, 2014 @ 5:10 pm
“It”™s not that 35- to 54-year-olds don”™t like the hits,” says Lew Dickey.
LOL!!!!! This guy is so full of shit that his eyes must be brown.
May 29, 2014 @ 1:36 am
I do miss some of the past artists. However wherecer this venture goes I hope it opens doors for both older artists that are still releasing music and newer guys keeping traditional country alive.
May 29, 2014 @ 6:53 am
They just don’t have the balls to call it “country music” do they? They have to label it “top country/top 40 country” and “classic country”.
Nobody thinks current top 40 country is country. Same as no one thinks Barry Bonds is the HR king. Maris 61 and Hank 755 are still the standard marks for fans.
So why the need to call not top 40 country “classic”. How about simply “country”.
May 29, 2014 @ 12:40 pm
Really cool analogy. Yeah, and Maris and HA’s success was from raw talent, not some juiced up form of steroid. Country music for the most part, has always been raw and real, not some pretty boy or girl using their beautiful bodies to distract us from the fact that the stupid song they are singing really sucks.
June 2, 2014 @ 8:20 pm
whats really going to suck is that if Scott signs Alan, and Garth they’ll be possibly forced in to doing duets with Swift and I’m sorry her “voice” whether she worked for it or not makes me cringe listening to it. Really a good chunk of people that I talk to will tell you she should have honed her songwriting and stayed as a song writer.
May 29, 2014 @ 10:49 am
Any of this mean John Anderson get’s back on the radio? We will line up to forgive him for any involvement with Big and Rich. They were just big fans too…