A Chat With Columbia Records’ Chairman and CEO on Breaking New Acts, TikTok Stars and the Next Big Genre

A Chat With Columbia Records’ Chairman and CEO on Breaking New Acts, TikTok Stars and the Next Big Genre

For the past seven years, Columbia Records chairman and CEO Ron Perry has stewarded one of the most iconic record labels in music history, overseeing a diverse roster that includes legacy legends like AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan along with contemporary superstars like Beyoncé, Adele, Harry Styles, Tyler, the Creator, Miley Cyrus and Lil Nas X among many others. 

Columbia’s A-list still showed up in 2025 — Cyrus dropped her most ambitious project to date with Something Beautiful and Tyler had two number ones in the past year with Chromakopia and Don’t Tap the Glass — but this year was perhaps even more notable for Columbia’s next up. Between TikTok influencer turned pop star Addison Rae, young country superstar Megan Moroney, country-pop-hip-hop amalgam Jessie Murph and southern songwriter Ella Langley, Columbia has arguably the most potential nominees for this year’s best new artist race. 

As for the common denominator among those acts: “They have a strong vision, they know where they want to go,” Perry tells The Hollywood Reporter. “We want to empower them to be themselves, to go out there and not have the pressure off success, but to make the best possible art.” 

Speaking with THR, Perry elaborated about developing new talent, country’s blow up and which genres could be next. 

Breaking new artists is among the more existential questions in the business. Columbia heads into this Grammy season with a huge crop of BNA nominees. What did you do?

I don’t think breaking acts is any one thing, it’s part of a cohesive strategy across the whole team. And it takes years, all these artists we’re talking about today.

Does this era of the business have the patience it takes to break new acts these days? The discussion tends to be about quick virality but like you said, it takes years. 

I don’t think the business has a choice. It’s always been this way, except for a few years around TikTok’s height of virality during the pandemic. It’s always been this way to sign, develop and work with the best artists in the world, and we know it’s going to take a while. Nothing is overnight. 

Speaking of TikTok, Addison Rae is one of your biggest potential BNA candidates. She blew up as a TikTok star years ago. She came in with a mood board for her pitch to you. Did you know she’d work?

We knew each other through mutual friends for a good amount of time. She came here, we did a meeting with her management and with (Columbia Records EVP) Julian Swirsky. I knew how great she was as an artist from a visual standpoint, we’d already built some trust between us. So when she brought the book in, she told us the vision, we simply said, ‘cool, let’s do it.’ Ever since then, I think she shattered any perception anyone may have had of her. I think she’s an undeniable pop contender. I think she broke all expectations. And I think she’s moving culture and building an audience. Her album is probably the most forward-looking new pop albums of the year. And I think she deserves all of it.

Did you, as a label think that there was much of a need to try and break down this pre-conceived perception of her as this OG TikTok star?

Honestly, she had her plan and we were fully on board with it. She had the vision, and we aligned together as a team looking to support that vision. She’s quite a few steps ahead of everyone, honestly. 

On the other side, you’ve got quite a bit going on in country, which has become a theme among the major labels in the past couple years. How did you guys go about building out your presence there? 

Any major label in 2025 has to have experts in all genres, country obviously continues to explode. It’s not just one genre, we have to know all of them. With someone like Jessie Murph, she’s not really country, she’s country, she’s pop, she’s trap. She’s a special act. I call her southern Amy Winehouse. The only other artist I can think who does anything anywhere near that is Post Malone. She’s managed to bridge all these things in ways I haven’t really seen before. 

Do you think today’s audience cares about genre?

No. They know what they like. They like artists, they like going to shows, they don’t care what it’s called. Their playlists are all over the place. Things keep changing and evolving, our job as a label is to be there with them.

You guys got in early with this amorphous country sound with “Old Town Road.” The song had started conversations about if it was country or not. Do you think those discussions would happen today?

What I’ll say is that I definitely believe Montero paved the way for a lot of the things that we see happening today. 

What is it about country that has captivated so many people right now?

Right now, lyrics are really, really important to the audience. Lyrics and incredible songwriting and storytelling, which comes with country. You look at Megan Moroney, her storytelling is witty, it’s personal, and that drives the fanbase connection with her, the emotional honesty. And it’s nice to have guitars back as well. 

What genre do you think could have this moment that we’re seeing with country these next few years?

Country’s not slowing down. And I think alternative and dance is surging now, U.K. rap is moving. That’s what’s happening now, we’ll see more shifts next year. 

What about you personally just as a fan?

Well, I’m trying to get Radiohead tickets if you know any connections. 

You’re known for having a strong ear. Obviously A&R has grown so research and data-driven, can an A&R simply trust their ears anymore? Pick something they really like even if it has no Spotify listeners?

Here’s the thing, I think you have to because like I said earlier, it’s taking a longer period of time to really develop artists, you have to love it. It’s most likely not going to blow up right away, so you need to be sure of what you’re signing. Having a couple pieces of data isn’t enough anymore. It’s part of it, but it’s not enough. 

When’s the last time you’ve heard something you were so confident in, that it was undeniable regardless of what the data said?

The Kid Laroi came in here years ago — and same with Jessie Murph, that was on passion, there wasn’t much data going on. I don’t think Kid Laroi had any socials really taking off even. Sometimes you see something, you believe in it, and hopefully success can happen several years later. 

How confident are you something will be a hit these days? You hear a demo, it sounds like something that will blow up?

All we can do is trust our instincts, put out the best music with the best artists and eventually it will work out. It may not be this record or that record, but we keep doing that over and over again, good things are going to happen. It’s a bit of both. We’re confident, we make plans but many times we’ll be pleasantly surprised. 

Tyler, the Creator gave you two number ones in the past year dropping his music off the industry standard Midnight Friday release time. Do you think other artists should do the same?

I think it worked out incredibly well forTyler. That was his call, he killed it both times. We’re excited, it worked out in the best possible way, we’re pleased with both albums. 

What keeps you passionate about music when this is what you have to do every single day? 

I still get the same goosebumps and the same feeling when we get a new song from one of our artists that I think is exceptional, it’s the same feeling as 20 years ago. That hasn’t changed one bit, that’s what keeps me going. 

This story appeared in the Oct. 1 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.