Curb | has many anniversaries. Mike Curb, Chairman of Word Entertainment.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of Curb Records. April 29 marks 30 years since Belmont University announced that its most high-profile program would be renamed the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business. And the school has just completed a 50th anniversary campaign to celebrate the founding of the department. All of these milestones come as Curve celebrates his 80th birthday on Christmas Eve.
“I like all but the last statistic,” he deadpanned near the start of the three-hour interview.
This conversation acknowledges the landmark, but more importantly, the potential for Curb's latest investment to strengthen Belmont's relationship with Music Row, bringing some of his deepest passions: education, music preservation, and heritage. It is organized into a unique structure. Belmont announced on April 9 that the Curb Foundation has made a $58 million donation. The gift will support the construction of a multi-purpose Curve College building on Music Circle South, sandwiched between BMG's offices and historic Columbia Studios.
Neither Mr. Curb nor Belmont President Greg Jones could specify the breakdown of the $58 million (both called it “complicated”), but the figure includes the value of the land Mr. Curb donated. There is. future rent. And cash. This also includes an expansion of the Buddy Lee Attractions building adjacent to Columbia University, where the school will receive an additional $40 million for projects that foster interaction between Belmont students and working music professionals. trying to collect. The 150-person performance space provides an ideal concert audio learning facility and also offers label showcase options. Lyrics rooms will be available to universities and perhaps even independent writers. The coffee shop is also expected to attract lunchtime visits from nearby businesses, and for students, a simple handshake could be a springboard to a career.
The building is being constructed at a time when much of Music Row is occupied by non-music developers. Curb owns 12 of his properties in The Row, including RCA Studio B, Ocean Way and the former Masterphonics building, and is determined to preserve the character of the area he manages. doing. That's especially true for Music Circle South. The block is home to numerous studios that have produced hits for Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, George Strait, Tom T. Hall, Dan + Shay, and more over the decades.
“We've made it impossible for developers to get to that,” Curb says. “The radio building at WNAH is also as-is. So are the buildings we use for Curb Records and Word Records. They're just as-is. So we've pretty much locked it down.”
Mr. Curb founded the label as an 18-year-old college student at California State University, Northridge, but he was too young to sign startup documents without a cosigner. He signed a contract with Capitol, wrote commercials for Honda, and had numerous songs included on film soundtracks, including the 1968 Clint Eastwood film Kelly's Hero. Curb became president of MGM in his twenties, worked with the Osmonds, Lou Rawls, Sammy Davis Jr., and Hank Williams Jr., and by the end of the 70s was Lieutenant Governor of California, alongside Ronald Reagan. Served.
After his administration, he expanded the independent operation of the Curb label by partnering with major artists whose careers include Williams, The Juds, TG Shepard, Lyle Lovett, and Debbie Boone.
“Back then, you could walk up and down Hollywood Boulevard or Sunset Boulevard. There were hundreds of independents,” he recalls. “Now they're all owned by three majors. That's one of the big problems right now. A detailed catalog of our industry is owned and controlled by three majors. .”
Curve arrived in Nashville in the early 1990s, with multiplatinum sales by Tim McGraw and LeAnn Rimes, as well as hits by Sawyer Brown, Hal Ketchum, Jor Dee Messina, and, in the 2000s, Rodney Atkins. I won the song. McGraw and Rhimes had a public spat over his contract with Curb, leading to Curb filing a lawsuit with Big Machine Label Group over McGraw, and McGraw eventually leaving. Despite the dispute, Curb has a good relationship with Scott Borchetta, president and CEO of BMLG, his auto racing partner.
“I consider Mike a genius, I consider him a friend, and I think he's misunderstood by a lot of people,” Borchetta said. “That guy is a walking encyclopedia.”
Mr. Curb's ability to maintain relationships even in the midst of bitter disagreements is a skill he honed during his political career. The relationship with Belmont, for example, continues despite the university's previous opposition to firing a lesbian coach. (The school eventually revised its policy.) In 1978, Curb helped defeat California's proposal to ban gay teachers from schools and persuaded conservative icon Reagan to join the fight. I persuaded them to participate. Currently, he continues to speak highly of Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), but although he has agreed to meet with gay employees, he has refused to change her position on important issues. I couldn't. He argues that ignoring people is a poor long-term strategy.
“What I always tried to do was not criticize people who disagree with me, but try to unite them,” he says. “As I learned from Ronald Reagan, all you need is 51%.”
The curve certainly beat Jones at Belmont. Shortly after Jones became university president in 2021, he proposed using the Music Circle South property to benefit music business programs. The school already had an ideal location on the south end of Music Row. The new building will be located in the heart of the district.
“We weren't making incremental changes just for the present,” Jones says. “We wanted the next 50 years of the music business to be truly transformative.”
It's a goal that Curve also shares. His label's 60th anniversary will be celebrated on June 6th at Nashville's Ascend Amphitheater with a CMA Fest show featuring Atkins, Sawyer Brown, Dylan Scott, Hannah Ellis, Kelsey Hart, Lee Brice and more. celebrated. Curve is excited about the prospects of Bryce's new single “Drinkin' Buddies” (featuring Nate Smith and Haley Witters), which debuts at No. 26 on the Country Airplay chart dated May 11 (4 (see page). But he's equally enthusiastic about “Check In,” Bryce's collaboration with the Christian band King & Country, which, like the Belmont and Curb's efforts for marriage equality, left a lasting mark. There is a possibility that it will remain. Anniversaries are important, but the future still beckons.
“We're influencing the culture of Nashville, country music, maybe pop music, the culture of this country,” he says with youthful enthusiasm. “That's what's so exciting about what we're doing.”
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