Mike Curb puts his own spin on music business

Mike Curb estimates there were 700 independent record labels doing business when he launched his Sidewalk Records label in 1964.

In fact, there were so many independent labels releasing music that Curb couldn’t name his first company after himself because it was too similar to another label, Cub Records.

So Curb, living with his sister in the janitor’s area of an office building and backed only by the $3,000 he got for writing the song for a Honda commercial, chose the name Sidewalk Records. In 1964, the label released its first record, “Apache,” by The Arrows featuring Davie Allan.

“You would go down to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and walk up and down those streets and there must have been 50 record companies out there,” said Curb, a Southern California native, recalling labels like Imperial, Liberty, Era and Capitol.

During the past 50 years each of those labels was bought by a larger company as the pendulum swung the opposite direction for the music industry. Curb, who formed his namesake label in 1974 and took it to Nashville in 1992, has grown his business from one operating out of a janitor’s closet to a multimillion-dollar operation and one of Music Row’s biggest brands.

Now there are so few independent labels thatCurb Records, headquartered on Music Row, is an outlier: a still-successful independent swimming against a current of major-label mergers and music industry consolidation. Mike Curb has become a true mogul with additional conquests in auto racing and politics. And the story of his label is that of a scrappy upstart, aided by clever distribution deals and co-venture partnerships, going toe-to-toe with infinitely larger corporate titans.

Curb Records has been home to some of country music’s most successful artists, such as Hank Williams Jr., The Judds, Tim McGraw, LeAnn Rimes, Lyle Lovett and, most recently, Lee Brice. Mike Curb has become one of Nashville’s most prominent philanthropists, too. Contributions from his family foundation have preserved historic buildings on Music Row, keyed the growth of Belmont University and propped up food banks, homeless shelters and music programs.

And Curb has accomplished this while keeping his label independent without any outside investment since that original $3,000 check for “You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda.”

A competitive spirit helped make Curb a successful record executive, a champion race car team owner in NASCAR and the Indy Racing League, and the No. 2 elected official in California. But it also fueled disputes with artists, such as the long-running lawsuit with superstar McGraw.

“Mike’s tenacious quality is really what this is all about,” said Curb President Jim Ed Norman, a former label chief at Warner. “His tenacious quality has an upside and a downside. It creates an energy where he sticks with an artist way longer than a major ever would. You have way more examples of that than artists who wanted to leave for a better deal.”

'Doing our thing'

Fueled by the mega-success of Rimes and McGraw, Curb Records was named Billboard’s country label of the year in 2001.

But even Mike Curb concedes his label has assumed underdog status. In the last 13 years, consolidation and mergers have left three major record companies — Warner, Universal and Sony — to dominate Nashville’s music landscape.

Of the 10 country labels with the most hit records over the last 50 years, nine are owned by one of those big three companies, according to rankings published in the book “Hot Country Songs” by Joel Whitburn. Curb Records is the lone exception, coming in at No. 9. While acknowledging his label’s spot on the totem pole, Mike Curb is immensely proud of its continued success, especially with Brice, who had a stellar year in 2013.

“If anybody thinks that Curb Records could be label of the year like we were in 2001 next year, they better place their bet elsewhere,” Curb said. “There’s no way you can compete with that.

“Having said that, we’re out there doing our thing. We just debuted a brand new act called American Young on the Curb label. On the Sidewalk label, we just hit the chart (in January) with an artist named Dylan Scott. Lee Brice exploded last year. I mean his overall sales, we just presented him a (plaque commemorating 5 million records sold).”

Country music historian Robert K. Oermann said the corporatization of the music industry has made independent labels’ success even more pertinent. He pointed out that Curb is home to more than just country artists. The Stone Poneys were a successful pop act. Selah and Natalie Grant are successful Christian artists. The Bellamy Brothers and Lovett saw success on both the pop and country charts.

“The more corporate the business becomes, the blander it becomes, the more homogenized it becomes,” Oermann said. “You have people’s individual tastes sticking out. Diversity is the soul of what we should all be after in our listening and our consumption of music.

“He’s not just in country music. He does pop and Christian music; all different genres of music are fostered over there.”

An eye for talent

Mike Curb was only 24 years old with five years’ experience as the head of his own label when Sidewalk merged with MGM records and he was named president. Then during a five-year stint with MGM, he produced “Candy Man” by Sammy Davis Jr. and saw success in pop, rock and country before his MGM contract ended and he went out on his own again.

Curb, who said he still enjoys walking down Lower Broadway to listen to the music being played there, was a prolific songwriter himself, a distinction that separates him from many music executives. His first band, the Mike Curb Congregation, landed songs on several popular Hollywood film soundtracks, and Curb also wrote Williams’ No. 1 hit “All for the Love of Sunshine.”

Curb’s musical influence was described in a 1993 article in The Tennessean quoting Dick Whitehouse, Curb Records’ longtime president.

“Mike Curb is my boss. He owns the company, and I don’t think I’d sign an artist without sending him a tape,” Whitehouse said. “I consult him regularly. ... I have such respect for his ‘ears’ and his background.”

The company also grew by entering into creative partnerships with other labels and maintaining multiple distribution deals. That meant Williams was on Warner/Curb, the Judds were on RCA/Curb and Sawyer Brown was on Capitol/Curb.

Now, Curb, which opened its Nashville office in 1992, distributes its music through Warner Music Group’s WEA Inc.

Historian Oermann said the label’s success is largely attributed to its eye for talent, whether that led to partnership record deals with other labels or traditional deals on Curb Records.

“That’s why they’ve been able to prosper: that unerring sense of talent acquisition,” Oermann said.

Political involvement

As the label’s success grew, Curb’s interests broadened. He and his wife, Linda Curb, started a family, and their two daughters are now adults.

Curb, who chooses his words with the polish of a veteran politician, said he had never envisioned a career in politics when future President Ronald Reagan, who had just completed his second term as California governor, persuaded him to run for California lieutenant governor in 1978. He had been involved on the periphery of state politics, serving as the co-chairman of Reagan’s and Gerald Ford’s presidential campaigns in California. Curb said he agreed to run for the office because of his admiration for Reagan.

Curb would win and then serve briefly as the state’s acting governor when then-Gov. Jerry Brown ran for president. After leaving office in 1983, Curb went on to serve as the chairman of the Republican National Finance Committee.

It was actually his increasing political commitments that pushed Curb to want to move to Nashville. He said he was asked to participate in state politics and speak at events, but he wanted to get back to the business of running his record label.

Curb has remained a prominent fundraiser for GOP candidates, though his views on social issues diverge from the party’s. Curb, whose grandmother immigrated from Mexico, favors gay marriage and criticized Congress for being unable to pass immigration reform.

When Belmont University fired its softball coach Lisa Howe after she told her team she was gay and expecting a baby with her partner, Curb pushed the university to pass nondiscrimination policies and he backed Metro legislation to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees of city contractors from discriminatory practices.

Citing the synergy between music and auto racing, Curb began sponsoring and owning race car teams in the 1980s. He owned cars driven by legendary NASCAR drivers such as Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. In 2011, Curb co-owned the car driven by Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon.

“I got involved because it’s such a great way to promote records,” Curb said, but added that it was a thrill to see his racing teams achieve success.

Curb said he first attended the Indianapolis 500 in 1962 when he persuaded his dad to take him to the race. It was one of the Indy 500’s most famous finishes, with Parnelli Jones winning a thrilling race.

“Of course, I never dreamed that we would one day win the Indianapolis 500,” Curb said.

In recent years, Curb Records made news for its lawsuit with megastar McGraw. In the early 1990s, Curb Records released several singles by McGraw before his hit “Indian Outlaw” kick-started a legendary career. McGraw had 18 No. 1 songs for Curb before the two sides went to court to settle their dispute over whether McGraw owed the label another record or was free to leave.

After several years of legal wrangling, McGraw left Curb Records for Big Machine, the top independent label in Nashville these days. Saying he was ready to move on, Curb was effusive in his praise for McGraw and said he wished the best for him at Big Machine.

Curb Records has earned the reputation of a label that artists are eager to leave. Hank Williams Jr. left the label in 2009, claiming it didn’t give him appropriate artistic and promotional backing. Jo Dee Messina left Curb at the end of 2012.

Rimes and Curb Records engaged in litigation in 2000, though that centered on claims that her father brokered her a bad record deal and Rimes ultimately re-upped with Curb.

Norman said that unlike major labels, which are backed by corporate checkbooks, Curb was forced to take an aggressive approach with retaining artists. That has meant a hard-line stance on sticking to original record deals.

Norman pointed out that while some artists feel confined by the label’s occasional strategy of locking in long-term record deals, others appreciate that Curb Records sticks by them. Norman pointed to Rodney Atkins as an artist who benefited from such loyalty.

Curb didn’t have more lawsuits with artists than other labels did, Norman said. “We just had the one highly visible situation with Tim.”

Natalie Grant, a Christian music artist, has been with Curb Records for six albums, a relationship of more than a decade. Grant said she was comforted by Curb’s commitment, especially after her first two labels went out of business.

“For some people it’s for worse; for me, it’s been for better,” Grant said. “I know that’s a different philosophy, but for me I’m a loyalist. Knowing so many of my friends who didn’t have a record deal because if they didn’t meet the sales quota then they were dropped.

“I think it’s unfortunate (McGraw) had a bad experience,” she added “Because I know in my situation I had two failed record deals, and then Mike Curb came alongside me and stuck with me.”

Giving back

With 433 No. 1 records and more than 1,500 top-10 records, Curb’s company has achieved success he didn’t expect when he lived in the janitor’s area of an office building because he couldn’t afford an apartment. His humble Music Row office is plastered with gold and platinum records and other awards.

But the framed picture Curb is proudest of is the one that documents his philanthropic giving in Nashville, with photos showing the buildings, charities and nonprofits the Curb family foundation has contributed to.

Curb said his grandmother told him to give back to his community if he ever found success, and the Curb Foundation has become a force in the local charity community. On its latest tax filing, the foundation listed assets north of $23 million.

Its charitable contributions helped build the Curb School of Music at Belmont University. Curb also has given to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Second Harvest Food Bank, Saint Thomas Hospital and other nonprofit organizations.

“It’s hard to imagine Music City being Music City without Mike Curb,” Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said. “Whether it’s a country music hit he produced or a music education building on a university campus that bears his name, Mike’s contributions to Nashville’s music, philanthropic and civic life are unrivaled.”

Oermann, the country music historian, said part of Curb’s legacy would be preserving historic buildings on Music Row, including legendary recording studios the Quonset Hut and RCA Studio B, where generations of A-list artists cut their records.

“My grandmother always said that, ‘You gotta promise me that if you succeed, you’ll give half of it back.’ And I try every year,” Curb said. “I haven’t succeeded every year. But every year that we have a decent year we give half of it back. I guess you can look around Nashville and see a lot of what we have been able to give back.”

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and on Twitter @tnnaterau.