Jac Holzman, the founder of both Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records, will receive the NYU Steinhardt Music Business Program’s Visionary Award at a ceremony on Wednesday. The honor will be presented by Music Business students during an invitation‐only event in the University’s Frederick Loewe Theatre. Holzman will interact with students, faculty, and administrators and discuss his six‐decade career with Phil Galdston, NYU Faculty Songwriter‐in‐Residence and Master Teacher in Songwriting.

“Jac Holzman is a towering figure in music,” noted Dr. Ron Sadoff, Director of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions. “He has brought a unique combination of skills, talent, and insight to his work, and, in so doing, forever changed the cultural and business landscape. We are thrilled that he will be visiting with our students, who will have an unparalleled opportunity to benefit from his experience.”

“The Visionary Award recognizes a business figure of note for their lasting and positive impact on the music industry through innovative, effective, and imaginative business leadership,” said Dr. Catherine Moore, Director of the Music Business Program. Launched in 2007, its previous recipients are music publisher Irwin Z. Robinson and Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora.

A musical pioneer, entrepreneur, producer, engineer, and technologist, Holzman built Elektra from a glimmer of an idea in his college dorm room and went on to sign and nurture such artists as Josh White, Theodore Bikel, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Tim Buckley, The Doors, Love, the Stooges, Queen, Harry Chapin, Bread, Carly Simon, and dozens more. Holzman also established Nonesuch Records, which marked its 50th anniversary in February, and the Cordless label; has been responsible for numerous technical and esthetic innovations in recording and marketing; and served as a senior executive and/or board member for a number of media and technological enterprises, including Warner Music Group, Warner Communications, Atari, Panavision, and Pioneer, among others.

In 2008, Holzman received The Recording Academy’s Trustees Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry in a non‐performing capacity, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. He is the coauthor of Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture. Holzman remains at the center of music innovation, recently spending more than a year overseeing the creation of The Doors iPad app. He described the app, which was released in 2013, as “a 1600 piece, three‐dimensional jigsaw puzzle, elegantly pre‐assembled.”