Music, Writing, and Time For Change with Nabil Ayers, Chase Jarvis

There's a common misconception that artists have a monopoly on creativity… But the very act of making waves—no matter the career—is a creative one. The Chase Jarvis Live Show is an exploration of creativity, self-discovery, entrepreneurship, hard-earned lessons, and so much more. Chase sits down with the world's top creators, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders and unpacks actionable, valuable insights to help you live your dreams in career, hobby, and life.

About this episode:

I’m excited to share my conversation with my dear friend Nabil Ayers. He’s a multi-talented hyphenate who opened one of Seattle’s iconic record stores, Sonic Boom at age 25. As both an executive and an artist who began his career as a musician Ayers has performed on several albums on both independent and major labels.

Nabil, now US President of Beggars Group, was previously US General Manager of its label 4AD, where he ran campaigns for The National (GRAMMY award winner in 2018), Big Thief (GRAMMY award nominee in 2020), Grimes, Future Islands and St. Vincent as well as reissue campaigns including Pixies’ album Doolittle which was certified Platinum in 2019. In both 2019 and 2020, Ayers was named one of Billboard magazine’s “Indie Power Players.”

In this episode, we explore Nabil’s interesting career from musician, to entrepreneur and music executive, and now writer. Nabil’s recent writing about race and music has been published in The New York Times, NPR and GQ and his memoir, My Life in the Sunshine, was published by Viking in 2022.