BARTELS TALKS BIZ AT UCLA CONFERENCE

Def Jam CEO Steve Bartels told a roomful of UCLA MBA students there’s a place for them in the music industry—the corporate side, management and back-end analysis. The good news for potential future hires, though, is that he cares about business data.

“I’m pragmatic about it,” Bartels said at UCLA Anderson Pulse conference. “I do look at data analytics.”

Bartels, who received an executive education certificate in 1992 from UCLA Anderson, talked about Def Jam’s history and how it has evolved into a lifestyle brand.

He singled out Amir Obé and Alessia Cara as artists who connect with the ideals of Def Jam’s earliest artists and noted Iggy Azalea, is “quietly working on something that’s going to blow your socks off.”

“If anybody exemplifies what Def Jam subscribes to, it’s Kanye,” he said, adding the “topical” and “genius” to his definition of Mr. West.

“My goal is having more people wanting more of my music,” he said about the rise in streaming and specifically having a presence on playlists. “Seize the medium and seize the day.”