As revealed exclusively in this week’s edition of Music Week, Ultra Music founder and hip-hop pioneer Patrick Moxey has relaunched the Payday record label. The relaunch coincides with the 25th Anniversary of the label, which helped launch the careers of Jay-Z, Mos Def and Guru. It will operate with offices in both the US and the UK.
In addition to his current role at Ultra Music, Patrick Moxey will become president of Payday Records worldwide, while Neale Easterby is the MD of the UK office. Other additions to the team include Adrian Nunez (VP of A&R), who has previously worked with Zaytoven, Honorable CNOTE, Cassius Jay and Maaly Raw in his previous A&R role at Ultra plus Will Scott (heading up product management and marketing divisions), who was formerly product manager at Mass Appeal Records working on campaigns for Run The Jewels, DJ Shadow and Dave East.
In his interview with Music Week, Moxey – who has spent recent years developing electronic and dance artists – explained the appeal of relaunching the label.
“What excited me again about hip-hop is lots of great artists and great lyrics coming back,” said London-born Moxey. “Of course, we have New York in our DNA, but the truth is that stars now can now come and bring their version of the truth in terms of hip-hop lyrics and culture from anywhere in the world.”
Artists signed to Payday are as follows: DJ Premier, New Orleans MC Pell, Atlanta veteran OJ Da Juiceman, U.K. rapper Yung Fume and NYC collective Gloss Gang. UK releases are set to be distributed by Sony.
To read the full Patrick Moxey interview, see this week’s edition of Music Week, or subscribers can click here. To subscribe and never miss a big music biz story, click here.