A deeper dive into the rebranding of MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment in honor of Music Row executive Scott Borchetta

Visionary music executive Scott Borchetta, whose legendary career includes the 2005 signing of then-unknown artist Taylor Swift to his independent record label, has come a long way from the 19-year-old, California-born musician who first stepped onto the MTSU campus with his bandmates to record tracks in University studios.

“We made friends with one of the students, and they had some studio time, and we came and recorded a couple times,” Borchetta recalled.

It didn’t take Borchetta long to realize his destiny wasn’t in making music but rather in promoting it.

“Playing in bands was so hard, trying to get four or five guys to truly commit to everything it takes to make it,” he said. “By comparison, the record business came pretty easy. So I decided to stop fighting it and start running toward it, and my whole life changed.”

Borchetta’s first record business job was in the mailroom of the independent promotion company owned by his father, Mike. The first industry job he secured on his own was working with actress and film producer Mary Tyler Moore’s Nashville-based country music record company, MTM Records, in the 1980s.

“There were only two of us in the radio promotion department, and I was assistant national director of promotion,” Borchetta said. “Working with independent promoters, we started having No. 1 records. We were beating RCA. Beating Columbia. Beating Warner Brothers. And I was like, ‘OK, even as a small operation, we can kind of whip their butts.’ ”

Borchetta later joined those major labels. As an independent promoter, he offered to work for MCA Nashville for free for two of its newer artists. One was Marty Stuart, who, with Borchetta’s support, earned his first Top 10 single, “Hillbilly Rock.” Borchetta would later become head of promotions for MCA.

DreamWorks Nashville later gave Borchetta his first experience running an indie label. There he championed artist Toby Keith to household name status.

His true rise to fame, though, came after departing the major record label system and stepping out on his own with the launch of Big Machine Records in 2005. He did so with the signing of a 15-year-old female artist who had been turned down by every major record label on Music Row: the now-ubiquitous Taylor Swift.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Now, a major financial gift Borchetta has given to MTSU’s storied College of Media and Entertainment—home to one of America’s top music business schools—has resulted in its renaming to the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment at MTSU.

“This is a great place. And this is an opportunity to really make sure the MTSU story keeps getting told.”

The donation from Borchetta promises to amplify MTSU’s critical role in supplying the media and entertainment industries with ready-to-work graduates and future leaders.

“When you look at how many music executives have come out of MTSU, and how many great artists and engineers and songwriters, not to mention media and production professionals, I felt it was a great place to really lift it up and make sure that the industry knows how important MTSU is to the industry,” Borchetta said, emphasizing that the college prepares students not just for careers in the recording industry but also in film, television, journalism, public relations, photography, and beyond. 

“I think MTSU, unless you’ve been here, and unless you’re a student, or alumni, and know about it, it deserves more attention. . . . If I can help lift them up to be even further recognized at the highest level . . . I’m all in.

“This is a great place. And this is an opportunity to really make sure the MTSU story keeps getting told. Not only to keep telling that story, but to help people create new stories. That’s really what this is all about.”

Borchetta described returning to campus all these years later to place his name on the college, which houses a music business program ranked among Billboard’s best since 2013, as “surreal.”

“It says we’ve done some pretty good work,” Borchetta said. “But we’re not done.

“We dreamt big about what we could do with our artists and our label. But this is kind of the biggest dream of how we can really help people . . . to imprint and inspire and hopefully create aspirational media.”

A Life in Music

Borchetta is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Big Machine Label Group, Nashville’s leading independent record label, which has been home to superstars including Swift, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Florida Georgia Line, Rascal Flatts, Thomas Rhett, Riley Green, Carly Pearce, Mötley Crüe, Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), and many more.

With Borchetta at the helm, Big Machine has celebrated monumental success for more than 20 years, including multiple Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, Country Music Association Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, and Billboard Music Awards. He has led the charge on more than 226 million albums sold by Big Machine artists, in addition to sending more than 265 singles to No. 1 on the country, pop, and rock charts.

As an executive producer, he’s delivered indelible works of art including the impressive 20-track Petty Country, a tribute album of country artists singing Tom Petty songs, and the documentary Glen Campbell . . . I’ll Be Me, which won a Grammy for its soundtrack.

A former in-house mentor on American Idol, Borchetta has been tapped for Billboard’s Power 100 list and Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, and was honored with the Music Business Association’s prestigious Presidential Award for Outstanding Executive, the Country Radio Broadcasters (CRB) President’s Award, the Bob Kingsley Living Legend Award, and most recently, selection to the T.J. Martell Foundation “Circle of Legends” inaugural class, which includes other industry legends such as Clive Davis. 

Among many industry-changing achievements, in 2012, Borchetta made an unprecedented agreement with iHeartRadio, marking the first time in U.S. history that artists and labels would get paid for their recordings on traditional, over-the-air radio with the first-ever terrestrial radio performance right.

Asked what Borchetta saw in Taylor Swift that everyone else missed, he highlighted her clean image and stark differences from everyone else in the genre.

“I don’t need to name names, but if you go back and look, you’ll see that most young female artists and celebrities in the early 2000s were experiencing major personal trouble and getting into things they shouldn’t have gotten into,” Borchetta explained. “After seeing that this generation of young girls needed a better role model, I was looking for the next female that would lead this generation because all those others, in my mind, had failed. You couldn’t take them home to mom.

“They needed a new leader. What ended up happening was fortuitous; but it was something that was very much top of mind for me. I remember thinking, ‘There’s an opportunity here. And maybe I’ll be the first one to find it.’ ”

Such forward thinking is an essential trait of the entrepreneur, according to Borchetta.

“I think, when we’re doing this right, we’re the agents of next,” he said. “The next big thing isn’t going to be something we already have; it’s going to be something that’s making noise on the edge of the mainstream. I don’t need the guy who sounds like Tim McGraw—we have Tim McGraw. We’re always looking for something on the edge that is so powerful it will pull the mainstream to it.”

Borchetta’s reference to country music megastar McGraw is perhaps not by accident. Decades before Borchetta signed Swift to his fledgling, upstart record label, his father, the aforementioned Mike Borchetta, who was also a successful major label record promoter, signed McGraw to his first contract at Curb Records in Nashville.

“I think, when we’re doing this right, we’re the agents of next. The next big thing isn’t going to be something we already have.”

Clearly the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

The elder Borchetta moved to Southern California in 1959 at the age of 19 with the promise of a job in the record business. When he got there, though, the job no longer existed. Determined not to return home to the East Coast with his tail between his legs like his own father (Scott’s grandfather) had predicted, Mike Borchetta knocked on every door in Los Angeles, determined to find his way into the record business. Decades later, he came to Nashville as an independent promoter, and legendary record executive Mike Curb hired him in 1989 to open the Curb Records office in Nashville.

Scott Borchetta sees a lot of his father’s story of struggling to break into the music business playing out in aspiring MTSU students today.

“It’s still a challenge and now a challenge we can help with,” he said. “So many times people feel there’s no path to get into the business. Well, there is, and we’re going to continue to work hard to make that path easier and easier to navigate.”

Borchetta lost his dad to ALS in the summer of 2025, just months before announcing his gift to MTSU. Asked what it meant to him not just to put his name on the college but also his father’s, Borchetta replied, “immense pride . . .  It’s something that my family can always be proud of.”

Borchetta further cited the influence of his father’s former boss, Mike Curb, in his own decision to make a transformational gift to MTSU. Over the past few decades, Curb has been extremely generous to another Nashville-area college, Belmont University.

“I don’t know if it was a conscious thing, like, ‘I’ve got to be like Mike.’ But I have the utmost respect for Mike, because he’s a dear friend, and if you just watch what he does, how he gives back, and what he’s done for Nashville—it’s extraordinary, and he continues to do so,” Borchetta said. “That’s what we’re supposed to do. To those who have been given much, much is expected.  I accept.”

Giving Back

Beverly Keel, an MTSU alumna, is dean of MTSU’s Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment. An award-winning music journalist whose work has appeared in People, Parade, Rolling Stone, The Tennessean, and other publications, Keel is also the former senior vice president of artist and media relations for Universal Music Group Nashville, where she was responsible for the media campaigns for Lionel Richie, Vince Gill, Sugarland, Shania Twain, George Strait, and many more.

Birds of a feather, Keel and Borchetta have known each other for a long time, stemming back to the early ’90s when Borchetta was at MCA and Keel was a music reporter at the Nashville Banner. They later served together on the Country Music Association (CMA)  board in 2019.

Keel said one of the first things that popped into her mind when she was named dean of the MTSU College of Media and Entertainment in 2019 was talking to Borchetta about honoring his legacy.

“I knew that I wanted my first task to be talking to Scott about celebrating and formalizing his legacy,” she said. “I broached the subject at the end of a late fall 2019 CMA board meeting, which led to our meeting along with Pat Branam, who was then in MTSU’s development department, in December 2019.

“MTSU has the only college of media and entertainment in the world, so we knew it would take a one-of-its-kind partner to propel the college to our next chapter, and that is exactly what Scott is.”

The pandemic hit, putting Keel and Borchetta’s plans on hold. Finally, in August 2025, the gift was announced in sync with Big Machine’s celebration of its 20th anniversary in September.

“I can’t overestimate how important this is to the life  and history of the college,” Keel said. “This propels us to international acclaim because Scott’s name is recognized and respected around the world. By partnering with Scott, we are exposing our students to cutting-edge ideas and perspectives.

“Scott is the perfect namesake for our college because he is a tremendous role model for our students. He is an innovator and disruptor, a visionary entrepreneur who leads the industry in new areas. He remains on the cutting edge of technology but always remains focused on the human element of everything he does, whether it’s how  to manage employees or reach fans with new music.

“We are so honored that Scott has partnered with MTSU to educate generations of college students in media and entertainment. For decades, Scott has improved the lives of his artists and employees. Now he will improve several thousand lives at a time. I can’t wait to see what we do together!”

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee called the renaming “a truly historic event” and “a project years in the making.”

“As one of Music City’s leading entrepreneurs and visionaries, Scott Borchetta has earned the reputation as one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and forward-thinking leaders,” McPhee said, describing the gift as “what happens when one’s vision and passion combine with dedication and hard work.”

Borchetta said once he became a leader in the industry, “it really kind of hit me over the head that we weren’t doing enough to give back. . . . So, this is a continuation of that mission, to make sure we are giving back.”

The MTSU gift isn’t Borchetta’s first foray into supporting education. He and his wife, Sandi Spika Borchetta, who works as the executive vice president of creative at Big Machine Label Group, previously created the Music Has Value fund in support of music in schools and music therapy.

Outside education, the Borchettas partnered with Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in 2020 to form The Big Machine Neighborhood, a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) wing, and continued their support in 2025, aiding in the expansion of the NICU to a new floor, named the Scott and Sandi Borchetta Floor.

Additional charitable initiatives include a multi-year,  multi-artist campaign that found Big Machine Label Group and Borchetta joining forces with General Mills and Feeding America for a nationwide effort aimed at fighting hunger. The initiative has sent more than   50 million meals to communities across the country, with an apt tagline: “It Takes a Big Machine to Outnumber Hunger.” Borchetta, a car racer himself, played a crucial role in bringing IndyCar back to Nashville and put his name and heft behind Nashville’s annual open-wheel auto race, the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix IndyCar championship event.

But the gift to MTSU is Borchetta’s most ambitious to date. He hopes its impact will be to give current and future students greater opportunities to fulfill their dreams of having a career in the music business—just like him.

“Scott is the perfect namesake for our college because he is a tremendous role model for our students. He is an innovator and disruptor, a visionary entrepreneur who leads the industry in new areas.”

Yes, the music business has been good to Borchetta. But Borchetta has been equally good for the music business.  A respected innovator in a historically tough business  once torpedoed by online streaming and still beset by chronic distribution challenges, Borchetta described  the MTSU gift as an investment in human capital—the ever-new generations of young students enrolling in  the college who will develop future innovations in media and entertainment.

“We’re here now to say, ‘How can we share our experience to help you understand what a win looks like and avoid some of the big mistakes we made?’ And to understand that this is always evolving. That’s the goal,” he said.

It’s a goal and a financial commitment worthy of having  his name forever attached to the college. But don’t expect Borchetta to get caught up in the legacy he’s creating for himself by making such a monumental impact.

“That’s for other people to ponder,” Borchetta said. “I just do the work.”

About MTSU’s Scott Borchetta College

Curriculum in MTSU’s Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment blends theoretical knowledge with practical experience, ensuring students are well-prepared for their chosen careers.

The Scott Borchetta College offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Advertising and Public Relations, Animation, Audio Production, Interactive Media, Journalism, Media Management, Recording Industry (with a Commercial Songwriting or Music Business concentration), and Video and Film Production. A Bachelor of Fine Arts is offered in Photography. Students also can pursue an interdisciplinary Media and Entertainment degree with a concentration in either Esports and Gaming Content Creation or Interdisciplinary Media, combining skills across fields for today’s media careers.

At the graduate level, the college offers a Master of Fine Arts in Recording Arts and Technologies, a Master of Science in Media and Communication, and a fully online master’s in Digital Media. In collaboration with the Jones College of Business, the college also offers a Music Business concentration within the M.B.A. program, as well as an Entertainment Law concentration within the Master of Science in Legal Studies program, provided in partnership with the Nashville School of Law and launching in summer 2026.

The 80,000-square-foot John Bragg Media and Entertainment Building houses cutting-edge production facilities for recording industry and radio-television, along with computer labs for animation and graphics. Additionally, the McFarland Building provides photography studio, darkroom, and lab spaces.

MTSU’s Scott Borchetta College is home to several distinguished centers, including the Center for Innovation in Media and the Center for Popular Music, as well as the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies and WMOT-FM—a 100,000-watt public radio station.

With a team of more than 65 dedicated faculty members, students receive personalized instruction in small-class settings. Faculty members hold advanced degrees and possess extensive professional experience, ensuring that students receive high-quality education grounded in real-world practice.

The Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment started with a journalism course in 1938. It evolved into a department in 1971 and became a college in 1989. The addition of Recording Industry came in 1973, and the John Bragg Media and Entertainment Building opened in 1991. Formerly known as the College of Mass Communication,  the college was renamed in 2015 to better reflect its modern mission.

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