Jason Iley

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 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."

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]

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

In 2014, Iley brought Black Butter Records into the Sony Music fold[10] who went on to sign and develop J Hus.[11] In 2015, he negotiated a deal with Insanity Records[12] – the label's first signing was Craig David, who scored his first No.1 album in 16 years.[13] He also invested in new joint venture labels, Since '93[14] and Dream Life Records.[15] Iley engineered the launch of new department 4th Floor Creative,[16] bringing together Sony Music UK's creative discipline and appointed Cassandra Gracey as President. Iley said: “I’ve always wanted to work with Cassandra, who is a highly respected, dynamic executive.”[17]

In 2015, Jason appointed British A&R, DJ, music-maker and broadcaster DJ Semtex as Director of Artist Development, who returned to the company after 14 years claiming he was “looking forward to working with Jason, in a new era at Sony Music.”[18] Iley later announced Ferdy Unger-Hamilton as the new President of Columbia Records UK,[19] David Dollimore as the President of RCA UK[20] and Dipesh Parmar as President of Ministry of Sound.[21]

Industry trade magazine 'Music Week' credited Iley's acquisitions and exec changes for Sony ending 2017 with its highest market share ever. Paloma Faith publicly praised Jason for the changes he made at Sony Music since becoming Chairman and labelled him “by far my favourite human to have encountered”.[22]

In 2016, Iley negotiated a deal that saw Robbie Williams move to Sony Music[23] to record his 11th album. Jason commented that the agreement was "a once in a lifetime signing with the biggest male solo artist of our generation."[24] After the release of his album The Heavy Entertainment Show, Robbie Williams became the record holder for most UK number one albums by a British solo artist.[25] Arcade Fire also moved their entire back catalogue to Sony Music, after 12 years at Universal.[26]

Under Iley's leadership, in 2014 the company achieved its best singles success for 33 years, with 11 Number 1 singles.[27] At the 2015 BRIT Awards, Sony Music artists won a total of five individual awards, which was Sony's best in nearly 20 years.[28] At the 2017 BRIT Awards, Iley's company dominated, winning 9 out of 13 awards. Iley commented that it was a "momentous and historic night" for Sony Music artists.[29]

Iley partnered with mental health charity Mind and signed an initiative on behalf of Sony Music, which aimed to increase awareness and understanding of mental health.[30] During Mental Health Awareness Week in 2018, Iley announced that Sony Music UK would offer their employees ‘Premium Days’[31] – two days, in addition to holiday, for personal development. This campaign was backed by Sony Music artists.[32] Alongside George Ezra, he publicly supported The BRITs when they chose Mind as their 2018 charity partner, commenting, “Mind do wonderful life-saving and life-enhancing work in the field of mental health, so I’m delighted that The BRITs can make a contribution to their vital campaign in schools". In a Music Week interview he added, "it's okay to talk about these issues".[33]

Iley stated Sony Music's commitment to supporting the Music Venue Trust's campaign in protecting small UK venues, saying "We recognise the vital role that grassroots music venues play, providing an essential platform for artists to be able to take their first steps and develop their audiences".[34] Under Iley's direction Sony Music became the first company in the UK to offer additional leave for parents of premature babies. He said of the policy, “We appreciate that it can be an extremely difficult and worrying time for those who experience premature labour and family is of the upmost importance.”[35] Jason was the first signatory from the entertainment industry to The Valuable 500 campaign for disability inclusion.[36]

Jason Iley was named on Variety’s Power Players Across the World List in 2019.[37] He was listed on Billboard's 2019 International Power Players List for the third consecutive year,[38] and appeared on the Evening Standard's annual "London's Most Influential People" list in October 2019 for the sixth consecutive year,[39] alongside George Ezra and Ed Sheeran.

Iley was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.[40]

Under Iley's tenure, in August 2016 Sony Music acquired Ministry of Sound Recordings, home to London Grammar, DJ Fresh and Sigala, bringing the label – including its artists, back catalogue and compilations – under the Sony Music umbrella.

He commented on the acquisition: “Ministry of Sound is one of the greatest brands in music. I’m delighted to welcome one of the most innovative, smart and pioneering labels to the Sony Music family. David and Dipesh’s track record, alongside one of the best curation teams in the business, speaks for itself and the label will be another hugely exciting addition to Sony Music UK’s vision for the future.”[41][42][43]

Jason Iley was Chairman of the BRITs Committee from 2017-2019 and was responsible for the look, feel and creative element of the BRIT Awards. In his first year, Iley was responsible for a shake-up of the BRITs Voting Academy, declaring the BRITs had “a responsibility to be truly reflective of what is happening in music". Iley was widely praised for shaking up the event.[44] Subsequently, after the 2018 awards show, The Independent published a headline that read "Brit Awards 2018: Finally paying attention to British music".[45] Iley also moved the BRIT Awards nominations show to a primetime Saturday night slot on ITV.[46]

Under the direction of Iley, The BRITs partnered with mental health charity Mind. Across his years half a million pounds was donated to support mental wellbeing for young people. Jason said of the donation, "The difference that these charities make towards people's lives is immeasurable and addressing this subject within schools is vital to a progressive and optimistic future".[47]

Iley appointed British architect Dame Zaha Hadid to create the 2017 award statue. In 2018 he commissioned Sir Anish Kapoor – the first sculptor to re-imagine the award and in his final year as Chairman, he announced Sir David Adjaye OBE would create the 2019 statue – completing a trilogy of world-renowned British creatives.[48][49]

Jason appointed Jack Whitehall who made his debut as BRITs host in 2018,[50] The Telegraph labelled him as “the best Brits host in years”.[51] Across the three years the show featured more than fifty artist performances including Ed Sheeran, Little Mix, Stormzy, Dua Lipa, Foo Fighters, Rag’n’Bone Man, P!NK and Calvin Harris – who made his debut BRITs performance.[52] The shows also featured a number of poignant tributes – Gary Barlow and Liam Gallagher, who paid tribute to victims of the Manchester terror attack [2018] and after the devastating loss of George Michael, his former Wham! bandmates delivered a heartfelt tribute, alongside a performance from Chris Martin.[53]