Jason Iley is this year’s winner of The Strat Award – the special Music Week Awards trophy for an industry legend.
Recent winners include Wildlife Entertainment CEO Ian McAndrew, Fascination Management's pop polymath Peter Loraine and CAA super agent Emma Banks. Read our history of The Strat, including every winner, here.
In a career of more than 30 years, Jason Iley has been on an incredible industry journey from working at Deadline magazine (alongside Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett) to product manager at Epic (working with current Sony Music boss Rob Stringer), followed by senior roles at Universal, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Sony Music UK & Ireland.
He has spent the past 12 years as CEO & chairman of Sony Music UK & Ireland. As well as serving as BRITs chair in previous years at the ceremony and masterminding this year’s move to Manchester, Iley has an MBE and a MITs Award to his name.
Read on for tributes to our 2026 Strat Award winner…
Rob Stringer, chairman, Sony Music Group
“Jason, whatever award you won recently, I said loads of nice things about you, and they're still the same. So we love you, and we think you're great, and I hope you're having a fun evening. Cheers.”
Jen Mallory, president, Columbia Records (US)
“We've worked together for over 12 years now, and you have given me a lot of very sage advice over the course of those 12 years. I very much appreciate your perspective and your guidance and your support, but most of all, I'm very happy to call you a friend.”
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester
“I heard a load of good things about Jason from people here in the city before we started working properly together. In my line of work, those reviews you hear about people often don't come true. But in Jason's case, they did. I got the strong sense from the start that he had an idea, a vision, about the BRITs in Manchester… The impact it had, both here and around the world, for British music, yeah, it gave it a new new life and a new energy.”
DJ Semtex, director of artist development, Sony Music
“My first initial impression of Jason was – this guy's hardcore. I was like, wow, because he's very, very direct. If you're supporting an artist, if you're trying to bring an artist into the building, if you're trying to suggest that a track is going to be big, you better know what you're talking about.”
Stacey Tang, co-president, RCA
“He's been a real big champion of mine in all of my time at Sony. I don't know if I would have stayed at the same company for 13 years if I hadn't met Jason Iley.”
Glyn Aikins, co-president, RCA
“I remember when I first came here, he said to me that the culture here at Sony is very different. And I actually didn't believe him. But actually in the time I've been here, I can only say that he was completely right.”
Jackie Hyde, VP, artist relations
“His attention to detail is, quite frankly, terrifying. He is very, very happy to come with me on a site visit, don a hard hat, a high-vis jacket – nobody looks good in them.”
Rob Ronaldson, president, Robots + Humans
“He almost makes you figure out the answer yourself by being super-sharp with questions.”
Jason's respect and admiration for music and art in general is unparalleled
Dipesh Parmar
Dipesh Parmar, president, Columbia
“Jason's respect and admiration for music and art in general is unparalleled. Some of the artists he's worked with not only influenced UK culture, but have influenced global culture – if you think about Jay-Z, Mark Ronson and U2.”
Negla Abdela, MD, Ministry Of Sound
“I think Jason's got a very strong ethos of being an artist-first company. And I think that's definitely always trickled down to how we work at Ministry. It's always about the artist’s vision and how we can support and bring that to life, rather than it being about us and just our own successes. We win more when we're more collaborative with the artists.”
Alex Mitcham, head of commercial strategy, Sony Music
“At his core, he's a real music lover. You can tell that he loves the songs that we're working, and he really feels the artist.”
Sally Wood, BRITs TV, executive producer
“He keeps calm under any situation and just makes the most chaotic moments fun.”
Liz Jeffery, VP, people experience, Sony Music UK
“Jason is an incredibly busy guy, but he always has time for me and he always has time for others.”
Amy Wheatley MD columbia
“Whilst I was on mat leave, Jason made a real effort to keep in touch with me by ringing me pretty much once a month just to check in. And I guess that shows his dedication to his staff.”
Brooke Salisbury, SVP, international & digital partnerships, Sony Music
“I first met Jason when I was on my first maternity leave, and he offered me a really big, brilliant job at Sony, and just told me to run with it. And that will always mean so much to me.”
Daisy Greenhead, senior director communications, Sony Music
“He always gives the most incredible advice, and he always gives me the confidence to not take shit from anybody.”
Charlotte Edgeworth, Director of diversity, inclusion and social impact
“It was clear as soon as I met Jason that he was really invested in the work that we do within the community. He’s really supportive of what we do with charities, and genuinely cared about it.”
Preye Crooks, co-head of A&R, Robots + Humans
“He always has time to crack a joke and laugh, which I think has really helped me with my mood, because I think it calms people's nerves. You drop him an email, you don't even let him know what the topic is, he’ll find you that time. Again, I've really appreciated that over the past 10 years.”
