Jason Iley

Jason Iley is the current Chairman and CEO of Sony Music UK.^[1] Formerly President of Roc Nation Records and the UK chief of Mercury Records, Iley currently heads up all of Sony Music's activities in the UK and Ireland, overseeing Sony Music’s frontline and imprint labels across the region, including the operations of Columbia Records, Epic, RCA, Commercial Group, RED, Relentless and Black Butter.

Career Overview

Posts held at record companies since 2005:

• Mercury Records - Managing Director - 2005 - 2006 ^[2]
• Mercury Records - President - 2006 - 2013
• Roc Nation - President - 2013 - 2014
• Sony Music Entertainment - Chairman & CEO - 2014–Present ^[3]

Career

Iley began his career as product manager at Sony Music in 1994, and subsequently worked at Universal Music UK across labels including Polydor Records and Island Records.

Mercury Records 2005 - 2013

In May 2005, Iley was appointed Managing Director of Mercury Records, and left his role at Island.^[4] The following year, Iley was promoted to President, and worked with established artists such as Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, U2, and Rihanna, as well as emerging acts like Chase & Status and Jake Bugg.^[5]

U2, who previously had a long-standing association with Island Records, followed Iley to Mercury Records in October 2006.^[6] The Independent described their move to the new label, stating "Their closest ally ... Jason Iley, was appointed managing director of Mercury Records last year, and the band have now followed him there."^[7] A similar report posted on Virgin.net cited, "U2 are keen to continue working with Jason Iley, who switched from Island to Mercury to become their President earlier this year."

President of Roc Nation

In June 2013, Roc Nation Records, founded by Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and home to artists such as J. Cole, Rita Ora and Jay Electronica, announced Jason Iley would become its President, based out of New York.^[8]

Chairman & CEO Sony Music UK

Sony Music CEO Doug Morris announced in April 2014 that Iley would become Chairman and CEO of Sony Music UK & Ireland in April 2014.^[9]

In this role, Iley bought independent label Black Butter Records into operating as a standalone imprint under the Sony Music UK banner.^[10] Black Butter, which launched the careers of Rudimental, Clean Bandit, Gorgon City, and Jess Glynne, would continue to be run by the original founders Henry Village and Joe Gossa who, as co-presidents, would report directly to Iley.^[11] In January 2015, Iley appointed British A&R, DJ, music-maker and BBC broadcaster DJ Semtex as Director of Artist Development, who returned to the company after 14 years.^[12]

2014 saw Sony’s best singles success for 33 years, with 11 Number 1 singles.^[13] Sony Music artists won a total of five individual awards at The BRITs 2015 including Best Female Solo Artist for Paloma Faith^[14] and Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Funk’,^[15] which picked up Best British Single.^[16] Several other of the label's artists - Foo Fighters, One Direction and Pharrell Williams - also collected awards.^[17] Sony's performance at the BRITs 2015 was the label's personal best in nearly 20 years, with the company picking up more awards than any other record label.^[18] The last time Sony Music won five BRIT awards was in 1997, while the 20 nominations Sony received hadn’t been matched since 2005.^[19]

In October 2015, Iley negotiated a deal between Sony Music UK and Insanity Management, bringing about a long-term partnership with the launch of Insanity Records.^[20] Craig David announced in January 2016 that he had signed a new recording contract with Insanity Records.^[21] He became the first artist to sign an album deal with Insanity Records, following his switch from Universal Music Group in the USA.^[22]

December 2015 saw Jason Iley and RCA Records’ President Colin Barlow establishing a joint venture with Nothing Else Matters.^[23] The dance music project, founded by Nigel Harding and DJ Danny Howard, is aimed at seeking "the best new dance music talent" in the UK.^[24] In May 2016, Robbie Williams departed from Universal and signed with Sony Music to record his 11th album.^[25] Jason Iley commented that the agreement was "a once in a lifetime signing with the biggest male solo artist of our generation."^[26]

References

External links

• Debretts
• Sony Music
• Evening Standard 'The 1000'
• "Execs Hail Ronson Grammy Success" MusicWeek. Retrieved 20 February 2016