Quotes from Scott Borchetta

I don't know that you can set out to be a brand. For us, it happened very organically, and we never rushed it or leaned on it too hard. I felt a true culture had started to emerge several years into the Machine, so we started trying some things, starting with simple stuff like cool merch.

Are there a million people out there who would love a Joey Cook album? I think there probably are.

Most of our artists are songwriters, so the songs are still central to all this. If you don't have great songs, it doesn't matter the marketing or how many times you are on TV; you can only polish it so much.

I grew up in Southern California, so there is just a part of me that is a Hollywood rocker.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I'm being myself when the camera is rolling.

The facts show that the music industry was much better off before Spotify hit these shores.

When I started the label, I stopped racing. Even though I have a better chance of getting hurt walking outside and falling down the stairs, if I had gotten injured on the racetrack, people would be going, 'What is this guy doing?' So I had to grow up a little bit.

If you stand for something, that means there are going to be people who support you and people who don't support you.

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?'

There's no reason people should be hungry in our country. It's not acceptable.

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.

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.

The world isn't all happy, shiny people, and great art doesn't come from vanilla. Great art comes from people with a point of view and are very passionate.

You can come after me all day long. I don't care.

If you look at most of our roster, we've got great singer/songwriters. I'm always attracted to that.

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.