A month after leaving HYBE America and buying back the name Big Machine Records, Scott Borchetta is starting a management division under the Nashville-based Borchetta Entertainment Group banner.
His first client is Grammy winner Carly Pearce, with whom he worked for nearly a decade as label chief at the first iteration of Big Machine. (Pearce remains signed to HYBE’s country imprint, renamed Blue Highway Records).
Joining Borchetta in managing Pearce will be Michael Blong, who had worked with Pearce at her previous management home, Starstruck Entertainment.
Borchetta Entertainment Group’s management division will focus on artist development, touring strategy, brand partnerships and career growth and work alongside the new iteration of Big Machine and its staff, many of whom joined Borchetta in the new venture.
“With Carly remaining with HYBE/Blue Highway Records, this opportunity to manage her, along with Mike Blong, gives her the ability to keep her [previous] core artist consultant, A&R and artist development partners intact,” Borchetta tells Billboard. “That team includes senior vp of A&R Allison Jones, senior vp of creative Sandi Borchetta, and so many other key executives who have helped her pave the way to incredible success.”
In a statement, Borchetta added, “I couldn’t think of a better way to kick off this new era of Big Machine than by announcing the formation of the Borchetta Entertainment Group and a new management vertical… This new season for Carly, starting with the amazing new Riley Green duet, ‘If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay,’ promises to be her best yet. I am so proud to welcome both as the foundational artist and management partner for this exciting new endeavor.”
Blong began working with Pearce as her day-to-day manager in 2022 and has more than a decade of experience in the industry as a tour manager, musical director and musician. Among the deals he oversaw for Pearce is her national campaign with Conundrum Wines.
“I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Carly through multiple stages of her career, and it has been incredibly rewarding to witness her continual growth as an artist and storyteller,” Blong said in a statement. “Joining forces with Scott and Borchetta Entertainment Group is an exciting next chapter for all of us as we continue to build on the momentum Carly has created around the world.”
On Feb. 12, HYBE America announced that Borchetta was leaving the company five years after it bought Big Machine’s parent company, Ithaca Holdings, in 2021, and that Borchetta had reacquired the Big Machine name. Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Lady A, The Jack Wharff Band and Aaron Lewis are among the acts who are on his relaunched Big Machine, as well as Riley Green, who is on Big Machine imprint Nashville Harbor.
Pearce is preparing a new album for release later this year on Blue Highway. She has prefaced the set with “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay,” as well as “Church Girl” and “Dream Come True.”
“I feel like this is the best music I’ve made, because I’m letting go of what the town wants me to do — I’m not chasing trends,” Pearce recently told Billboard. “The only thing I’m chasing is, ‘Who am I at my core?’ I think that’s a very liberating place to be as an artist and owning my womanhood and all of the experience I’ve had.”
This story originally appeared on Billboard
