MASSEY SETTING SAIL
FROM ISLAND?

Rumor has it David Massey plans to leave Island Records when his deal expires this June. Upon departing the label, the British-born exec is expected to begin leading a new, multifaceted music venture for which he’s said to have secured funding.

Massey assumed the Presidency of Island in February 2013. He had left Sony six years earlier to join UMG as prexy at Mercury Records, then part of the L.A. Reid-led Island Def Jam Music Group. Island was uncoupled from Def Jam in 2014, and since then Massey has seen big success with such artists Demi Lovato, Shawn Mendes, Nick Jonas, Fall Out Boy, Mike Posner and Tove Lo, among others.

The well-liked exec spent his first 10 years at Tommy Mottola’s Sony within Epic Records, entering as VP of A&R in 1991 and moving up to EVP A&R. He subsequently served as President of Daylight Records—which he founded in 2000 as an A&R resource for all Sony labels—and EVP A&R for Sony Music Label Group U.S.

Before entering the majors, Massey worked as an artist manager in London, where he also ran his own indie label, Big World Records. Over the course of his career he’s worked with artists ranging from Shakira and Cyndi Lauper to Bon Jovi and Sir Elton John, the latter the subject of an Island tribute set that’s on track for a solid bow on this week’s chart. We first came to know David in the early ’80s, before Wang Chung released “Dance Hall Days,” which dropped as a single in 1984.