Imran Majid, Co-CEO, Island Records

Please respect that the discussions in this lecture series are off-the-record, with a no social media policy.

Island Records is one of the most iconic labels in music business history, having launched careers as varied as Bob Marley, U2, Amy Winehouse and countless others.

Imran Majid, the label’s co-CEO as of January, comes to campus as a guest of the Bandier program’s Rezak Lecture Series. The discussion will cover Majid’s career path, including stops at Motown (as an intern), chart-topping Republic Records and the also-legendary Columbia Records, and examine the skills, experience and outlook required to run a major label.  The event will also look at the specific challenges, opportunities and business-shaping trends facing Island Records.

Majid is the first Pakistani-American and the first Muslim to run a major label in the U.S. “When I came into the music industry, there was no reflection of someone like me,” he says. “So being a good executive, having a great reputation, showing that you can get this far and be risky and take shots, it shows that labels are opening up to creatives from other backgrounds.”