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Rick Ross makes it look like Maybachs and steak dinners, but even he’ll tell you that it’s not easy being the boss. Yes, running things provides one with notoriety, and a hefty paycheck but when you’re the face behind a major record label, you also bare potential blame for any musical mishaps.

Since navigating through the maze that is the music industry is no easy feat, it makes sense that artists turn into record executives. Perhaps it’s their career perseverance that makes major labels offer them executive gigs—or the fact that no one can relate to an artist better than an artist—but either way there’s a trend brewing in the entertainment world. With record sales not moving like they used to, labels are looking towards artists and producers to spearhead projects for the acts on their roster.

Atlanta hit maker Dallas Austin became the latest member of the music elite to settle in on a day job, as Senior Vice President of A&R at Island Records. While the Island Def Jam family is known to shower producers and artists with executive positions, several others labels have followed suit.

In honor of Austin’s new position, take a look at some other music figures who held a boss title at major labels.

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