weekly February 17, 2026, Issue 999
Borchetta On Big Machine 2.0
Last week’s simultaneous departure of Chairman/CEO Scott Borchetta from the HYBE-owned BMLG and launch of his two-imprint, one-promotion team new entity raised many questions. HYBE’s plans began to come into focus with this morning’s announcement of the Jake Basden-headed Blue Highway Records (Breaking News 2/17). As for Nashville Harbor and the new Big Machine, Borchetta answers many of the top-of-mind questions below. CA: You’re getting to clean-slate a label design for the first time since you launched the original Big Machine. How does it look Scott Borchetta different in 2025? How is it the same? SB: Well to begin, we have a running start! Twenty-plus years of doing, learning, evolving, and now with the ability to hit a total reset. I feel 100 pounds lighter. When a company matures and becomes as big as it is now with a huge finance department, royalty accounting, legal, etc., there was so much operationally that took up my day. Now, with our new agreement with HYBE, I outsource most of those responsibilities to them. And I know all the players ... as I hired them! They’re amazing. But now I don’t have to manage the operation. We will be able to escape so many hurdles that we had to learn as a startup. We know what we need, and we know how to get it. Regarding how it looks different in 2026, it’s completely different! The only constants that are the same from 20 years ago are great artists, great music and figuring out how to build the fanbase. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland said something so simple but profound several years back when the sea change of social media was really washing over us: “It used to be, someone would hear my music and want to know more about me ... now, they want to know about me before they’ll listen to the music!” That is so true. Our entire value structure has changed, and therefore new and exciting financial opportunities lay elsewhere in addition to the music. How difficult were the decisions around staff and artists? Anytime you lose people and go through the seismic shift we all just experienced, it’s incredibly difficult. That team was magical together and they truly care for each other in a really beautiful way. During our year-end meetings in December, we all knew change was coming, but we didn’t know what it would be nor how it would look. When I walked into the big (continued on page 7)
Howdy Valentine‘s: Mercury‘s Priscilla Block celebrates Valentine‘s Day with Gage Picotte and husband/KSCS/Dallas‘ Al Farb and the label‘s John Trapane (l-r) at Billy Bob‘s.
Q4 CDM Drivetime Leaders
Following the analysis of the format’s Q4 drive-time leaders in PPM markets last month, Country Aircheck has also compiled Country’s top performers for the quarter from Nielsen Audio’s 44 Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) markets. Cumulus ceased subscribing to Nielsen effective with this release, so several stations, including last quarter’s leaders in mornings (WIVK/Knoxville) and afternoons (WKKO/Toledo) no longer appear. With WIVK absent after leading morning drive for the past seven quarters, WUSY/Chattanooga claims the top share in the daypart for the first time since Q1 2022, thanks in part to a 9.0 to 10.1 jump. WUSY’s Ken (continued on page 3)
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