Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee
Nabil Ayers, president of Beggars Group US, delivers the 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture with Christopher Wares, assistant chair of music business/management at Berklee.
Image courtesy of the Berklee Music Business/Management Department
Berklee’s Music Business/Management Department hosted the 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series on Thursday, November 13 with guest speaker Nabil Ayers, president of Beggars Group US. In his role, Ayers has run album campaigns for the National, Big Thief, Grimes, Future Islands, and St. Vincent, as well as major reissue projects such as the Pixies’ platinum-selling Doolittle. He also serves on the boards of American Association of Independent Music and KEXP (a public radio station based in Seattle, WA), and has been named one of Billboard’s “Indie Power Players” every year from 2019-2025.
Moderated by Chris Wares, assistant chair of music business/management, the conversation walked students through Ayers’s journey as both a performer and an industry executive, and how his creativity naturally evolved into a career in the music business. He shared memories of his uncle, jazz musician Alan Braufman—who attended Berklee and bought Ayers his first drum kit when he was two years old—and how that early influence shaped his path.
Ayers went on to play in several bands throughout the 1990s, touring with the Lemons and Alien Crime Syndicate, before cofounding Sonic Boom Records in Seattle at the age of 25. Through his own label, The Control Group / Valley of Search, he has released music by Cate Le Bon, Lykke Li, Bad Brains, the Killers, PJ Harvey, and his uncle. “The combination of the creativity and music business was so fun,” he said. “That was as fun as playing a show or recording a record. Making that work and watching that work was incredibly satisfying. It didn’t feel like business, it felt creative, because it was.”
Ayers later moved to New York City, where he joined independent label 4AD and became deeply immersed in the indie community. “I feel really lucky to just have landed right in the middle of something that was already kind of happening… all this kind of came together at the perfect time,” he reflected. “Those are still the glory years.” He later became the president of Beggars Group in 2022.
Ayers closed the lecture by offering insight and encouragement to both aspiring artists and industry professionals navigating today’s independent landscape. “That’s the independent community— it’s everybody,” he said. Speaking directly to artists about the A&R process, he emphasized authenticity over analytics, saying, “None of the labels I work with really care about the data unless they like the music… you have to do what you want to do, and you have to believe in it.”
Ayers provided each student with a copy of his memoir My Life in the Sunshine, which chronicles his journey to connect with his father, jazz legend Roy Ayers, and redefine what family means.. Following the interview, Ayers spoke individually with students and signed each copy.
About the Zafris Lecture Series
The James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture Series for Music Business/Management is Berklee’s first endowed visiting lecture series, established by the Board of Trustees in 1992 and named after James G. Zafris, a longtime chair of the board and one of its founding members. Past Zafris lecturers have included Tina Davis, President of EMPIRE; Andreea Gleeson, CEO of Tunecore; David Israelite, president and CEO of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA); Jon Platt, chairman and CEO of Sony Music Publishing; Dina Lapolt, renowned entertainment attorney; Jeff Harleston, general counsel and executive vice president of business and legal affairs at Universal Music Group, and many more.
