Big Machine Label Group is set to celebrate its 20-year anniversary with a Big Machine 20 concert in downtown Nashville on Aug. 29, featuring performances from Sheryl Crow, Riley Green and Brett Young.
The free-to-the-public celebration’s will kick off the rebranded Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR Series Championship weekend, and will include the fifth annual Freedom Friday event to honor military members, police, fire, first responders and frontline members. In 2024, the Freedom Friday event drew 118,000 attendees to Nashville prior to the NTT INDYCAR Series event.
“This year’s event has even more meaning as we celebrate 20 years of Big Machine,” said BMLG founder, chairman and CEO Scott Borchetta in a statement. “Nobody could’ve predicted our incredible success in a city we love so much. This is our thank you to Nashville and all the fans of our amazing artists and their music. This is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event and one we’ll never forget!”
Other performers on the lineup include newcomer Preston Cooper, as well as artists who have been part of Big Machine Label Group’s two-decade history, including The Band Perry, Danielle Peck, Danielle Bradbery, RaeLynn, Jimmy Wayne and Jack Ingram.
Borchetta launched Big Machine in 2005, following roles at labels including MCA Nashville and DreamWorks Universal. The label’s current roster includes Tim McGraw, Midland, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts, Brantley Gilbert, Carly Pearce, RaeLynn, Jackson Dean and Lady A.
Along the way, the label has also been an advocate for artists’ rights, with Borchetta launching the “Music Has Value” campaign and working with terrestrial radio broadcasters to earn sound-recording performance royalties for the label and its artists.
The label’s biggest alum, Taylor Swift, is not named among the Big Machine 20 event’s participants. Swift has not been aligned with the label since leaving for UMG’s Republic label in 2018 and following the 2019 sale of Big Machine Label Group — including the pop superstar’s recorded catalog — to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. In 2021, HYBE bought Ithaca Holdings. Swift recently regained ownership of her master recordings.