David Massey will retire as president of Arista record At the end of June, the label confirmed Monday. Massey spent the last seven years transhipment The company as President and CEO under Rob Stringer, chairman of the Sony Music Group.
Massey guided the label – was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis – through its rebuilding 2018. He helped build a varied list of artists with the addition of JP Saxe, Lola Brooke, Paul Russell, Måkin and Damiano David and Jonah Kagen, Bunt., Audrey Nuna and Sunday (1994).
“It has been a privilege to work with David on the rebirth of Arista,” Stringer said in a statement. “At two different times on Sony Music, David has been a hugely respected key leader for the company all over the world and as a friend and colleague in both epochs I wish him all the happiness in his pension. Arista will continue to grow from the roots he has developed!”
“It has been a great honor to spend this chapter in my career back at Sony Music, working with Rob Stringer, a visionary CEO for which I have the greatest admiration and with the extraordinary Sony family all over the world,” Massey said. “After starting the label from the ground up almost seven years ago, I am so proud of the performance for the team at Arista and our great young artists. I know that Arista will go from strength to strength in the future.”
Massey began his career in London as artist’s manager for groups such as Wang Chung in the 1980s before moving to A&R on Epic in 1991. During his 16 years at the company, he signed Oasis and the Pre-Superstar sentence of the Jonas brothers. Massey also led its own independent record label, Big World Records.
In 2007, Universal joined, where he signed Avicii and Iggy Azalea. In the same year, Massey signed as president of Mercury Records, where he worked with Duffy, Portishead, Taio Cruz, Neon Trees and others and was appointed president of Iceland in 2013.
As president and CEO of Island Records, Massey worked on campaigns for artists such as Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, The Killers, Fall Out Boy, Mike Posner, Elton John, Bon Jovi and Tove Lo, among others.
