Ron Perry (music executive)

Ron Perry is an American music executive. Since January 2018, Perry serves as the Chairman & CEO of Columbia Records.^[1] Columbia is home to Adele, Beyoncé, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Celine Dion, Daft Punk, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, AC/DC, Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles, Pharrell, John Mayer, Tyler, the Creator and many of the world's most iconic artists.^[2]

Ron Perry
Occupation	CEO / Chairman
Employer	Columbia Records

Under Perry's leadership, Columbia has signed Miley Cyrus, Lil Nas X, Rosalía, BTS (via Big Hit Entertainment), Halsey, Central Cee, The Kid LAROI, Baby Keem, Blink-182, Labrinth, Lil Peep, Polo G, Dominic Fike and many others.

Since 2019, Columbia artists have spent over 100 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the most by any record label during that time period.

In 2020, Perry was named Music Executive of the year by Variety.^[3]

Career

Prior to his role at Columbia Records, Perry served as the President & Partner of SONGS Music Publishing. SONGS was originally founded by Matt Pincus.^[4][5]

During his tenure, Perry signed and championed the early careers of The Weeknd,^[6] XXXTentacion,^[7][8] Lorde,^{[9][10][11][12]} DJ Mustard,^[13] and Diplo,^[14] among others.

He worked on the Diamond selling "Starboy" and the 7× Platinum "I Feel It Coming" for The Weeknd and Daft Punk, a collaboration introduced by Perry.

Perry is credited as A&R on Lorde's second album Melodrama, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.^[15] This led to the company achieving 5% of the US publishing market share and was the #1 independent music publisher of its time.

In December 2017, SONGS was sold to Kobalt Music Publishing,^[16] as Perry moved to his role at Columbia Records.

According to Variety, on May 28, 2020, two days into the demonstrations in Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd, Columbia Records & Ron Perry were the first major music company & Chairman/CEO to post in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, stating: "We stand together with the Black community against all forms of racism, bigotry, and violence. Now, more than ever we must use our voices to speak up and challenge the injustices all around us."^[17] Subsequently, other major record and publishing companies adopted the same course of action and aligned with the sentiment.

Live performances

A fan of Nirvana, Perry played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on guitar alongside Miley Cyrus, and separately, "Lithium" on stage with Post Malone at Coachella 2016.^[18]

In 2019, Perry performed various 90s covers on guitar alongside John Mayer, at his 40th birthday celebration held at The Troubadour in Los Angeles.^[19]

Awards

• 2022 Billboard Power List: No. 17^[20]
• 2021 Variety’s Label of the Year^[21]
• 2020 Variety's Hitmakers Executive of the Year^[22]
• 2020 Billboard's inaugural Breakthrough Award^[23]
• 2020 Billboard's Power 100^[24]
• 2019 Billboard's Power 100: No. 34^[25]
• 2018 Variety’s "New Power of New York" list^[26]
• 2018 Billboard's Power 100: No. 28^[27]
• 2017 Variety's 2017 Hitmakers^[28]
• 2017 Billboard's Power 100^[29]
• 2016 Billboard's inaugural A&R Power Players list^[30]
• 2014-2016 Billboard's 40 Under 40^[31][32]
• 2013 The Hollywood Reporter's Top 35 Hitmakers in Music list^[33]

In popular culture

Ron Perry in cartoon form as portrayed in South Park's Season 18

In 2014, Perry was depicted as himself in three episodes of South Park's 18th season ("The Cissy," "#Rehash," and "#HappyHolograms").