Jay-Z appointed president of Def Jam

Proving yet again that he is the hardest-working retiree in the music industry, the rap star Jay-Z has agreed to become president of the Def Jam Recordings label of Universal Music Group..

The pact, announced Wednesday, puts Def Jam, the venerable hip-hop label, in the hands of one of rap's biggest-selling artists. Universal, part of Vivendi Universal, will give Jay-Z, who has little corporate experience, the vacant top job at one of its biggest divisions, granting him authority over everything from album production to marketing strategies, as well as an artist roster that includes stars like LL Cool J and Ludacris.

"I think it sends a great message out to artists," said Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter. "If you put enough work in and pay attention, maybe one day you can run a company."
The deal also marks a big victory for Universal and Antonio Reid, chairman of the corporation's Island Def Jam Music Group, who had been working to secure Carter as an executive and prevent him from lining up with the rival Warner Music Group, whose U.S. unit is run by Lyor Cohen, the former head of Island Def Jam.

Carter, 35, announced last year that he was retiring from the music business. Since then he has gone on an aborted tour with R.Kelly, released "Colli- sion Course," an album, in collaboration with the rock group Linkin Park that entered the Billboard charts at No.1 on Wednesday and released the documentary "Fade to Black" about his retirement send-off concert at Madison Square Garden in New York.

He is expected to begin work at Def Jam on Jan. 3.
Under the terms of the three-year deal, Carter can also sign a limited number of artists to his own venture, distributed by Def Jam and likely under the Roc-A-Fella Records label. Carter said in an interview on Wednesday that the first artist he planned to sign was the rapper Foxy Brown.

As a label executive, he is expected to earn in the range of $8 million to $10 million over the course of the contract, depending on Def Jam's performance, an executive close to the deal said.
The hiring begins a new chapter for Carter, who has been vocal about his desire to become a behind-the-scenes boardroom player and to break the industry's perceived glass ceiling for black executives.
The move to hire an artist for such a senior post thrusts the label into uncharted management territory, and it is unclear how other artists on the roster might respond.
"That I'm the president of the company may take some getting used to for some artists," Carter said. "But I don't want to say I'm their boss. I'd rather say I'm their consigliere."
Some other music executives suggested that artists would be more than amenable to entrusting their careers to an artist who has achieved Carter's level of success.

"His opinion of music and his point of view on marketing is absolutely spot-on," said Steve Stoute, former head of the black music division at Universal's Interscope Records and now chief creative officer of the marketing firm Translation. "I don't know who wouldn't want to work for him."
Reid said he also expected to strike a deal to create a joint venture with the entrepreneur Damon Dash, who founded Roc-A-Fella with Carter. Universal has also been talking to Russell Simmons, a founder of Def Jam, about starting a new venture.
Reid, who was hired to run the Island Def Jam division in February after Cohen's departure, is hoping that the hiring of Carter to essentially run the label's rap business will provide a counterweight to his own strong background in R&B and pop music.
"He is the epitome of the future of hip-hop, and he'll bring in something that I could never do," Reid said.

"My philosophy is really simple," Reid said. "He's got the ball, and I know that he can score. I get to go make my R&B records. I don't have to worry anymore."