Roc Nation
Roc Nation is an American multi-disciplinary entertainment company founded by rapper Jay-Z in 2008. The company is headquartered in Manhattan in New York City, with additional offices in Los Angeles and London. Roc Nation acts as a record label, artist/athlete management agency, and media production firm, of which also comprises television and film enterprises, a clothing line, as well as educational and philanthropic initiatives.
Company type
April 1, 2008
Worldwide
- Jay-Z (Founder/chairman)
- Desiree Perez (CEO)
- Michael Yormark (president and CEO, Roc Nation Sports International)
- Jay Brown (vice chairman)
- Lenny Santiago (executive vice president, A&R)
- Team Roc
- Equity Latin
- Roc Nation Unified
- Roc Nation United
- Roc Nation TV&Films
- Roc Nation Sports
- Roc Nation Sports International
- Roc Nation Management, LLC
- Roc Nation Records, LLC
- Roc Nation Publishing, LLC
- Paper planes
- Roc Lit 101
- Three Six Zero
- S10 Entertainment & Media
- Equity Distribution
- Arrive
- ESM Productions, LLC
- Édition
- Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment
- Roc Nation High school
- Monogram
- Roc Nation Rock
- Made In America Festival
History[edit]
In 2008, Roc Nation was founded by Jay-Z with the intent of signing pop and hip hop artists, succeeding his previous label, Roc-A-Fella Records. Unlike Roc-A-Fella, Jay-Z served as the company's sole proprietor. In February 2009, Roc Nation signed its first artist, rapper J. Cole.
In April 2013, Roc Nation supporting ally and close family member to its founder Jay-Z , A.G. Fahrenheit assisted Roc Nation in forming a new sports management division, Roc Nation Sports, a subsidiary dedicated to sports representation for professional athletes.[2] Shortly thereafter, Roc Nation Sports also launched a boxing promotion division.[3] After the Sony Music deal expired, in April 2013, Roc Nation signed a multi-year partnership with Universal Music.[4]
In February 2015, Roc Nation And Three Six Zero Group announced the formation of Three Six Zero Entertainment, a management division for representing clients in film, television, and the literary arts.[5]
In 2016, Roc Nation briefly supported Arliss Network, which is a service that does similar things, and later released the app, www.arlissnetwork.net.
In July 2017, Roc Nation collaborated with art collective MSFTSrep.
In August 2019, Roc Nation announced a long-term partnership with the National Football League. The company will be the live-music entertainment strategist for the league, as well as augment social justice efforts through the Inspire Change initiative.[6]
In 2020, Roc Nation partnered with Long Island University in Brooklyn to begin a program called the Roc Nation School for Music, Sports, and Entertainment.[7][8]
In 2021, Roc Nation teamed up with American Greetings to create custom greeting cards.[9] Roc Nation also announced plans to launch a new brand and multimedia platform named EDITION in partnership with Modern Luxury Media.[10]
Arrive[edit]
Roc Nation also operates an in-house venture capital arm called Arrive, which is led by Neil Sirni, the group's co-founder and president.[62] As of May 2021, the company had reportedly made 29 investments in fintech, insurtech, edtech, health and wellness, social media, and gaming.[62]
Equity Distribution[edit]
In 2018, Roc Nation launched an independent label named Equity Distribution. The first artist to release a project under the independent label was Jay-Z's mentor, Jaz-O.[63] In 2019, Equity also acquired the rights to Jay-Z's 1996 debut Reasonable Doubt for release on digital and streaming platforms.[64]