It’s an honor that, appropriately, celebrates executives who combine commercial success with unwavering support for artistic vision.
2025 has been a year that perfectly encapsulates Edge’s approach. Sleep Token, the mysterious British metal outsiders, mesmerized audiences like never before, with stunning results – including their latest album topping the Billboard 200 in May.
Elsewhere, Tate McRae’s pop evolution reached new heights; her latest album, So Close to What, also became a Billboard 200 No.1 in February.
Meanwhile, Tyler Childers continued his genre-defying artistry, LISA’s solo venture stretched K-Pop convention, Doja Cat roared back with the ’80s-inspired Vie, and the likes of Myles Smith and Wolf Alice demonstrated a slick collaboration between Edge’s US-based label and Sony Music’s UK operation.
Then, of course, there’s SZA. The past 12 months have seen a triumphant LANA deluxe re-issue for 2022’s huge SOS album, while she also found time to top the Billboard Hot 100 with Kendrick Lamar on Luther.
At the same time, SOS has continued to cement its place as a global modern staple; according to Sony Corp data, it was Sony’s biggest global record for the firm’s past two fiscal years.
“I’ve always been attracted to things that seem unlikely,” Edge explains from RCA’s offices, reflecting on the label’s eclectic roster. “Music is changing, and I think this current generation is much more open to combinations [of genre] that you would have thought wouldn’t work.”
RCA’s ‘slow road to greatness’ philosophy was naturally tested during the pandemic years, when the industry pivoted toward viral content and instant gratification.
The label maintained its long-term vision, focused on building lasting careers rather than chasing fleeting moments. That strategy continues to pay dividends: the label now boasts some of the most culturally significant artists of the streaming age, each defying easy categorization.
“We’re not in the business of making widgets,” Edge notes, referencing a commodified A&R approach he’s spent his career rejecting. “We’re in the business of working with people who change the way other people feel.”
Tellingly, as AI encroaches into the music business more and more, Edge remains confident in art with a soul. He notes: “Perhaps the thing that is going to be most valuable in music is the human part – the part that isn’t copyable… the part that isn’t based on some kind of predisposed formula.”
Below, MBW speaks with Edge about building careers in an age of shortened attention spans, why “premium” artists are winning in a crowded marketplace, and how RCA became the anti-algorithm major label…
WHEN MBW LAST INTERVIEWED YOU IN 2019, YOU LIKENED YOUR APPROACH TO HBO: “PREMIUM CONTENT FOR A SUBSCRIPTION AUDIENCE.” HOW HAS THAT PHILOSOPHY EVOLVED IN THE STREAMING AGE?
Creatively, RCA has the same mindset as a large independent.
Artists’ constant ability to play with genre and reinvent themselves really excites us; we’re not interested in telling them to compromise, and we don’t believe ‘it’s all been done before’.
“Creatively, RCA has the same mindset as a large independent.”
Even if something strongly takes a cue from another era, you can marry it with a contemporary point of view.
We combine that artistic appreciation with an understanding and expertise around data and reaching global audiences.
ON THE DATA AND MARKETING SIDE, WHAT’S CHANGED FROM A FEW YEARS AGO?
Things are way more complex than they ever used to be.
It’s a very subtle process to influence what people are open to connecting to. There’s no ‘one thing’ you can do to open that door.
We focus on audience perceptions and influences, putting things in the space around people and allowing them to gestate to become meaningful cultural moments.
Look at what the RCA team put together with Sleep Token – this incredible long-lead campaign ran for six months, bringing the fan into a world completely created for this album.
It’s mysterious, intriguing, and compelling. It meant you were glued to what’s going on.
It shows what you can do with long-term planning and trying out things that are not necessarily the tried-and-tested “this is how you release a record”.
SLEEP TOKEN IS PERHAPS YOUR MOST POINTED EXAMPLE OF GENRE FLUIDITY FROM THE PAST YEAR. HOW DID THAT SIGNING COME ABOUT?
We’d been observing them building an incredible fanbase from the records they’d released previously. Kudos to Dan Chertoff and Daniel Schulz on our A&R team for realizing and spotting what was going on with them very early.
It was a curious one, as started listening to their music deeper I kept hearing real references from other genres, in particular R&B. I realized this artist was drawing from references that are hardly ever drawn on in music broadly defined in that way [as hard rock/metal].
It speaks to what I was saying earlier: this current generation is much more open to hearing combinations of things that you might have previously thought wouldn’t work or would be unlikely.
I’ve always been attracted to that idea. The idea that something so different and eclectic could work on RCA, to me, was never in question.
Photo Credit: Sam Waxman
TYLER CHILDERS ALSO FITS INTO THIS CONVERSATION: HE’S A COUNTRY ARTIST, BUT ALSO FAR FROM ‘JUST’ A COUNTRY ARTIST.
Tyler [pictured inset] is completely his own thing. He’s become this generation’s North Star for artistry in so many ways.
He’s a remarkable guy because his views about life, his interests, and influences, are completely unpredictable.
NOW I THINK ABOUT IT… SZA IS R&B, BUT SHE’S ALSO NOT R&B. THIS IS BECOMING A THEME.
SZA is… as SZA does! She’s whatever she feels and wants to do, and there’s no box you can put her in. She’s very sure about that.
Credit to our partners at TDE, Top and Punch, for seeing that years ago and just believing in her artistry.
Her music is raw and emotional yet beautifully melodic, like some of the great artists of the past decades.
SZA is just so real. If I wasn’t working with her, she’d still be one of my favorite artists.
SZA pictured with Edge and RCA execs, plus the Top Dawg Entertainment team and Sony Music Group boss Rob Stringer
I NOTICE YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT THE ARTISTS… I’M GOING TO HAVE TO TRICK YOU INTO TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF AT SOME POINT.
The artists are why we’re here. I’ve never wanted to be known for anything other than supporting artists, partnering with artists, and helping them achieve their goals.
It’s hard for them to be out front, to put themselves out there and take the risk that people may or may not appreciate what they’re trying to do.
Playing a supporting role to them is a great privilege.
DURING THE PANDEMIC, THE INDUSTRY PIVOTED TOWARD VIRAL HITS AND INSTANT GRATIFICATION. HOW DID RCA MAINTAIN ITS LONG-TERM PHILOSOPHY DURING THAT PERIOD?
In 2020, amongst everything else going on – socially, politically, this extraordinarily strange time that nobody could ever imagine – it all felt a bit like, ‘What is this music about?’
Most of the time [listening to new popular music at the time], it didn’t feel like people were going to look back on that period and go, ‘Oh my, these songs are forever songs.’ To use the current parlance, they were ‘moments’.
We actually benefited from some of that: Doja Cat had some huge ‘moments’ in 2020 and 2021, but we knew she was never just a ‘moment’ – we’ve worked with her for a long time. She’s an artist who’s entirely unpredictable and fascinating, and has a long career ahead of her, as you’re seeing now as she enters her ‘Vie’ era.
THAT RAISES THE BROADER QUESTION ABOUT ARTIST DEVELOPMENT. THERE’S A NARRATIVE THAT MAJORS JUST DON’T DO IT ANYMORE.
I would argue that RCA kind of disproves that. Tate McRae is a great example.
We signed her when she was 15 or 16, building from the platforms she’d created on YouTube as a dancer and songwriter.
Edge with Tate McRae
We’ve built her career together from a very small beginning into somebody who’s become one of the breakout artists of this year. Her album and everything associated with it are remarkable.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR WHEN SIGNING ARTISTS?
What is unique about this artist? What do they do that nobody else is quite doing the way they do it? What are they about that’s not duplicated elsewhere?
I think of Steve Lacy. This is a guy who defined his own destiny – whether making amazing songs in his bedroom at 16 or 17 or now, forging something so specific.
People like that are very exciting to me because their vision and their ability to make something really singular and unique, creatively their own thing, is remarkable.
IT’S INTERESTING THAT YOU FOCUS A LOT ON THE PEOPLE YOU’RE SIGNING, THEIR CHARACTER, NOT JUST THEIR MUSIC. IT LEADS TO A PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATION ABOUT HUMAN AUTHENTICITY VERSUS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
With everything going on with AI and the ability to release music, perhaps the thing that’s going to be most valuable is the human part – the part that isn’t copyable… the part that isn’t based on some kind of predisposed formula.
How heartfelt, how authentic, how unusual is this piece of expression? That’s always been one of the most interesting things about music.
I was speaking to a young DJ recently and he said his peers have a very sharp eye for authenticity: “That person is not being real, that’s a commercial ploy, this content is not actually authentic.”
“It’s fun to work with people who get to grow their audience in that way without compromising what they want to say.”
The antennae for what’s real amongst Gen Z has been tested over and over by the digital age, and maybe they’ve had enough. That could have a big impact on artistry.
Throughout my career, what’s frustrated me has been seeing the “we make them like this” approach – changing [an artist’s sound] so they fit a preconceived notion of what audiences will like.
Artists are not widgets. I love it when great artists in the ‘margins’ of [culture] get popular. It’s fun to work with people who get to grow their audience in that way without compromising what they want to say.
IT USED TO BE THE CASE THAT THE INDUSTRY HAD ‘MAJORS’ AND ‘INDIES’, WITH A STRICT DIVIDING LINE. THAT’S CHANGED A LOT, ESPECIALLY THANKS TO THE DEALS THAT GET DONE, WITH MORE ARTISTS OWNING RIGHTS AND LICENSING TO THE MAJORS. BUT CULTURALLY, TOO, THERE’S NO GREAT ISSUE WITH ‘SIGNING TO A MAJOR’ FROM THE INDIE ECOSYSTEM. I’VE JUST SEEN YOU’VE SIGNED TWO ARTISTS FROM THE ‘INDIE’ WORLD – ALEX G AND BLOOD ORANGE.
Artists can come here and our philosophy is like, “No, we don’t want to alter your vision – we want to make your vision bigger.”
I love that. It’s the antithesis of “we make them like this” thing.
I suppose Blood Orange and Alex G are both prominent artists in what we might have once called ‘alternative’ or ‘indie’ music. But everything’s broken down now; those labels are disappearing.
YOU’VE BEEN AT SONY/RCA FOR OVER TWO DECADES, FOLLOWING YOUR SUCCESSES AT J RECORDS WORKING WITH CLIVE DAVIS. WHY DOES SONY’S STRUCTURE SUPPORT YOUR ARTISTIC VISION?
To develop artists and see them through, you have to stay in one place for a long period of time. That comes with the territory.
I’ve been fortunate that [Sony Music Group Chairman] Rob Stringer shares that vision of artist development – he’s been involved with many artists’ careers over a long period of time.
Rob’s also a music guy. Not only does he believe in artist development, but he’s also a big fan of music.
And then I look to the people around me. To name just one, John Fleckenstein is such a major part of RCA – he’s in the center of everything. He’s creative, but he’s also extremely solution-oriented and practical. He has a really good way of translating philosophical thoughts into practical application. That’s invaluable.
OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, THE INDUSTRY HAS SEEN THE RISE OF CATALOG MUSIC DOMINATING STREAMING. HOW DO YOU VIEW THAT CHALLENGE?
From a business perspective, obviously frontline labels face challenges when everyone listens to music from other decades. But on a creative level, it’s actually a really good thing.
I love the idea of a ‘collapsed timeline’. I grew up through the ’90s listening to music from all over, which is a very British thing to do. There was a whole culture of absorbing music from different times and places.
Now [because of streaming], younger artists are influenced by a much broader range of music.
Even 10 years ago, you’d find certain artists who referenced music in that way, but there were a lot of others who just focused on the mainstream sound of the time.
“From a business perspective, obviously frontline labels face challenges when everyone listens to music from other decades. But on a creative level, it’s actually a really good thing.”
I think about some new projects we have at RCA that are imminent. Look at The Red Clay Strays, who just go from strength to strength in terms of being a band that blends country, Americana, and rock. They’re a very unique prospect, playing larger and larger venues, with a new album on the way next year. Their time is coming.
Tems has been such an important voice coming out of the new Afrobeat scene in Nigeria, but frankly she’s gone beyond any genre and any borders. She has that very special and unique voice and writing skill. I’m very excited to see her fulfill all of her potential.
Other artists we’re excited about include Victoria Monét who won Best New Artist at the Grammys last year [2024] – there’s lots of anticipation around her next record. And I’ve just been listening to kwn from the UK, who’s creating a whole new take on what ‘R&B’ could be, from a different viewpoint we’ve seen before.
DO YOU EVER WORRY THAT THE TRANSITORY NATURE OF MEDIA CONSUMPTION AMONGST YOUNG AUDIENCES – AND ALL THAT CHOICE WITH CATALOG MUSIC – IS GOING TO KILL FANDOM OF NEW ARTISTS?
No. The thing that’s so potent with younger artists is that they’re here now, playing live to crowds of people directly like them.
With all the [screen time] we have, headphones in, people are really craving experiences in real life. And for us as a label, the live arena is really great as an artist development tool – it tells you much more than listening to a recording or even an in-person meeting can.Music Business Worldwide
