Ahead of receiving the prestigious STRAT Award at last night’s Music Week Awards, Sony Music UK & Ireland Chairman and CEO, Jason Iley, sat down with editor-in-chief, George Garner, to talk about where he’s been, where he’s at and where he’s heading next.

Read the main Q&A with Jason and George below, or head to Music Week to access the full interview.

Saluting the incredible career of Music Week Awards STRAT winner Jason Iley

Words: George Garner/Music Week

How do you feel about the resurgence of British music at the moment, especially in light of this year’s BRITs?

“Obviously, right now, it’s great. We had a couple of anxious years, but now you look at Olivia Dean, Myles Smith, Raye, Lola Young, Central Cee, Charli XCX, PinkPantheress, Sienna Spiro – and then on top of that, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran and Adele. We’ve got our domestic acts working on an international level – it’s fantastic. Clearly, I’m totally, utterly delighted because we don’t need those quiet years. We need to break acts. And the reality is that the moment we put out a record on a Friday, we’re now competing on a global pitch with Rosalía, Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny, SZA, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan – whoever it may be. That’s the level; that’s the standard. And that’s why we have to be on a global pitch with the BRITs and with our artists. So I’m really pleased that we’re competing again. It’s got a slight added issue now – I know some A&R executives are a bit concerned that anything that has a heartbeat here, the Americans are suddenly like, ‘Are you on this? Are you on that?’ I know acts are starting to sign to the US, but I’m quite relaxed about that.”

So, what’s your game plan with that development?

“It’s no different from what we’ve seen throughout history. We have to have confidence that we understand our culture and artists. Hopefully, the smarter lawyers, managers and acts will also realise that and carry on signing to the UK – and if that’s in partnership with the US, too, that’s totally fine. Artists who sign directly to the US, or who have signed to the US in the last 12 months or so? We’ll see where they are in the next 12 months. Because, similarly, I’m not going to try and sign an act out of America and pretend I understand everything about American culture. When I moved to Roc Nation, I was immediately competing with executives who had worked there for 20 or 30 years and understood every single thing about every area of the market. You’ve got to trust in the people that live and breathe their territory. I’m confident that the right acts will realise they still need their UK footprint. I actually had a conversation with one artist and their manager about this recently…”

How did that play out?

“I said to them, ‘Why do you want to sign to an American label? For the next two years, what’s your strategy?’ and they replied, ‘Well, we need to figure out the UK…’ That was my thought exactly: you’ve got to lay the foundations in the UK first, and if you’re signing to the US, who’s laying those foundations? I then asked them if the A&R executives from the US were actually going to move to the UK to set them up. The answer was, ‘Well, no…’ That’s my point. You’ve got to believe in the culture of what we do, and have confidence.”

To that end, do you think anything has shifted in the past year or so in terms of the A&R focus? Have execs been spending more time in the studio, rather than looking at trends?

“I think Olivia Dean’s a perfect example of that. You’ve got to take your hat off to Jo Charrington, Emily Braham and Willem Ward; they went back in the studio with Olivia on the second album and made a really, really great record. And great records work.”

It’s reassuring in a way, isn’t it? That for all the ways music has changed, an undeniable record can still cut through…

“Yeah, and they have with Olivia. And then Lola Young came out with a huge song that will be around for years to come. Myles Smith’s had two No.1 records in America [on the US Alternative Airplay chart] and has done nearly five billion streams. With Central Cee, that’s nearly four billion streams and a No.1 in the UK. I’m old-fashioned, in a sense – even going back to when I was younger – A&R has to be king. The records have to be the best they can possibly be. And then marketing people like me, or publicists, or digital people come in, and we only look like gurus if the records are great. I remember when I was younger, I was a goal hanger to the A&R offices, because whether it was at Epic, Polydor or Island, what I used to do, as a marketing person was literally hang outside the A&R offices to hear what they were signing, see what I thought was best, and make sure that I was a product manager [laughs].”

Going forwards, what do you want to see the British industry do more of? And what do you want to see less of?

“Well, clearly I’d like more hits on a global basis. It’s funny, I look at our last eight, nine weeks and we’ve had something between eight and 10 in the Top 20 every single week and my current stress will be, ‘Well, what are we doing over the next eight to 10 weeks?’”

From our past conversations, you’ve always been wired this way – you seem far more interested in looking ahead than ever celebrating in the moment. Is that a fair assessment of the way you operate?

“When people get all excited about, ‘What are the week-one album sales?’ I’m like, ‘What will the sales of the album be in week five?’ That’s the key to it. You always have to think longer term. And what do I think we should do less of? Execs shouldn’t worry. They should just keep focused on spending more time in the studio and continuing to make better records, because the acts I just listed are proof that we can make great records and sell on a global basis.”

In terms of British music as a whole, what are you looking for from the government right now?

“There’s been so much time, effort and inquiry drilling down into what we do, and every minute I’m spending on politics is a minute I’m not spending with my artists. There’s a better understanding of the music industry now, but if the government is trying to make big changes to it, and it has serious cost implications for us, then that could mean less investment in artists, less investment in marketing. What we don’t want to happen is that the UK just becomes an international distribution centre for repertoire coming from America, and you just allow and hope that US executives sign UK acts, and they might break them. I don’t want the UK to be like that, which has happened elsewhere… That’s far too risky from where I’m sitting.”

You sound up for the fight…

“Should the majors have made some improvements before the Broken Record campaign brought some of the issues up? Yes, I think the campaign was right to challenge on some points. Sony already had an industry-leading approach to writing off unrecouped balances and we’re proud that we’ve improved this further since. But, as I said, it still needs to be economical for labels to invest in and sign new talent. I’ve got a good relationship with Andy Burnham, who’s helped us a lot with Manchester. We’re in contact – I spoke to him the other day – and he couldn’t have been more supportive of the BRITs. And so far, my experience of him has been a good one. The key with Andy is he loves music. So, yeah, that’s my view of politics.”

With your eye for detail and business acumen, you could have pivoted to, say live, publishing or whatever else you wanted, but you’ve stayed in recorded music. Why is that?

“The reason it’s been record companies over publishing or live is because we’re at the heart of it. We create everything: we sign the acts, we make the records, we come up with a creative campaign. We take the act to market and those other areas then benefit from our success or failure, but we are, first and foremost, in charge of the global strategy. I’ve been really fortunate throughout my career to have worked numerous international acts, but going back to my young self as a marketing manager hearing the act from the A&R teams, then the record being made, going and making videos, deciding who will design the sleeve, who will be the photographer, then coming out with the strategy to take the act to the market, that’s where the real buzz is. Those other areas of the business don’t touch that. Well, they touch it later, but we originate it. So that’s the key. Without wishing to be too controversial, I think the other areas are more comfortable and sit and wait and we do the work [laughs].”

Your relationship with Rob Stringer has been long and successful since he interviewed you for your first job at Epic. What was your first impression of him at that time?

“The first thing I remember when I went into Rob’s office was that he had all the point-of-sale for the Manic Street Preachers’ The Holy Bible album artwork by Jenny Saville. I remember walking in and thinking, ‘We’re gonna get on really well here.’ Obviously, we did because he gave me the job and over many years, we have a very open, honest, trusting relationship. We really connect on music and on the artistic side of what we need to do for our artists. When I...

Sony Music UK

Message History

Delivery option(s)