David Massey is to retire from his position as president of Arista Records at the end of June, seven years after re-launching the label.
Rob Stringer, chairman, Sony Music Group, said: “It has been a privilege to work with David on the rebirth of Arista. In two different eras at Sony Music, David has been a hugely respected key senior executive for the company worldwide and as a friend and colleague in both those eras I wish him all the happiness in his retirement. Arista will continue to grow from the roots he has developed!”
It has been a great honour to spend this chapter of my career back at Sony Music, working with Rob Stringer, a visionary executive for whom I have the utmost admiration
David Massey
David Massey said: “It has been a great honour to spend this chapter of my career back at Sony Music, working with Rob Stringer, a visionary executive for whom I have the utmost admiration, and with the extraordinary Sony family worldwide. Having started the label from scratch nearly seven years ago, I am so proud of the achievements of the team at Arista and our great young artists. I know that Arista will go from strength to strength in the future.”
Since overseeing the relaunch of Arista Records in partnership with Sony Music in 2018, Massey has built a roster including JP Saxe, Måneskin, Damiano David, Lola Brooke, Paul Russell, Jonah Kagen, BUNT, Audrey Nuna and Sunday (1994).
In two different eras at Sony Music, David has been a hugely respected key senior executive for the company worldwide
Rob Stringer, Sony Music Group
Massey spent the early part of his career at Sony Music, where he worked with artists including Shakira, Oasis, Cyndi Lauper, Good Charlotte, and Franz Ferdinand.
From 2013, he was president and CEO of Island Records US, overseeing campaigns for Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, The Killers, Fall Out Boy, Mike Posner, Elton John, Bon Jovi, Tove Lo and more. Prior to that, Massey spent six years as president of Mercury Records, working with Duffy, Portishead, Taio Cruz, Neon Trees, The Wanted and The Gaslight Anthem.
Previously, in 2004, he took on the role EVP, A&R, Sony Music Label Group US, and was also president of his own imprint Daylight Records, which was founded in 2000 where he signed and developed Good Charlotte, Jonas Brothers, Anastacia and Phantom Planet. The early portion of his Sony Music career was spent with Epic Records, where he spent 10 years in a number of different roles, including EVP/GM and EVP of A&R.
Prior to joining Epic, Massey was based in London where he managed artists such as Wang Chung, in addition to overseeing his own independent record company, Big World Records.
Massey served as a governor and trustee at the RIAA from 2010 to 2015 and holds a Masters in Law from Cambridge University.
In a 2017 interview with Music Week, Massey paid tribute to the UK.
“The UK remains very important as a source of talent and it always will be,” Massey said. “It will never, ever not be. The fact that there might be a year when UK acts don’t break as big has no meaning at all. It will always continue to have important global stars, whether it’s Ed Sheeran or Rag’N’Bone Man, who’s developing a global profile. That’s never going to change, there’s so much talent on that island.”
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