David Massey, the veteran record executive who re-launched the legendary record label Arista Records, is retiring from the company after seven years at the helm, Sony Music announced on Monday.
Massey will stay on through the end of June. Sony Music hasn’t announced Massey’s replacement but confirmed that there’s a succession plan, and that Arista would remain a standalone label within the Sony system.
“It has been a great honor 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,” Massey said in a statement. “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.”
Sony had appointed Massey as the president of Arista back in 2018, seven years after Sony had shuttered the label. Originally founded by famed record executive Clive Davis in 1974, Arista served as home to artists including Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow. During Massey’s tenure, the label signed artists inlcuding JP Saxe, Lola Brooke and Måneskin — who reached international fame with their cover of the Four Seasons’ “Beggin” — earning a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
Before taking the helm at Arista, Massey served as CEO of UMG’s Island Records, working with artists including Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato and Fall Out Boy among others. Before then, he was the president of Mercury Records, and an A&R executive within Sony.
“It has been a privilege to work with David on the rebirth of Arista,” Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer said in a statement. “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.”