Ben Patterson announced as President of Artist & Label Services, Downtown Music
Los Angeles, CA
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April 18, 2023 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Today, Downtown Music, the business and professional services division under Downtown Music Holdings, announced the promotion of Ben Patterson to President of the newly-coined Artist & Label Services division.
The Artist & Label Services division was born from Downtown’s distribution arm, DashGo, and is integral to the company’s core mission to empower artists and build an equitable music ecosystem. Downtown Artist & Label Services will provide a home to and roll up the impressive repertoire of artists and labels previously serviced by DashGo and Downtown Music Services. As President, Patterson will lead the charge in guiding independent artists and recording labels through the complexities of the music industry today.
Los Angeles-based Patterson is an industry veteran who values the role of the artist and has spent his 20+ year career helping artists share their music with the world on their own terms. He previously served in senior roles at The Firm and GMG Entertainment, and founded DashGo in 2004, with the artist and label-centric distribution company later acquired by Downtown in 2019. Since then he has served as Chief Operating Officer of Downtown Music Services, the combined publishing and distribution service that served as the precursor to Downtown Music.
Under his management, Downtown Music Services’ distribution business revenues grew 250% year over year with hit releases from artists including Cheat Codes, Los Tucanes De Tijuana, and TV Girl, and labels such as Avex USA's label "Selene," Nataniel Cano's label "Los CT," and New 11. Patterson’s unique focus on thriving genres such as Musica Mexicana and LoFi, and his ability to spot trends and break artists from short-form video platforms and support artists and labels globally, have been key to Downtown’s recent success. The company’s work with Musica Mexicana-pioneers Kartel Music saw marque artist Luis R Conriquez develop from seventy thousand monthly listeners to nearly fourteen million on Spotify and in 2022 Patterson’s team along with Zach Hancock from Downtown Studios launched an Atmos mixing studio for Downtown clients.
Having already expanded the worldwide distribution business in South America and the UK, Patterson will continue to grow the scope of services to new genres and markets while providing high-touch support for marquee artists and labels. Adding to its already robust service offerings, Artist & Label Services continues to expand into new areas such as high-touch project management, short-form video strategy, social media, creative and digital advertising worldwide.
Formed in August 2022 and led by President, Pieter van Rijn, Downtown Music was the first step towards creating a clear market proposition that combines technology and an extensive range of music services under three core pillars - Publishing, Artist & Label Services, and Distribution. In September 2022, Van Rijn’s successor, Christiaan Kroner, was announced as President of FUGA, Downtown Music’s B2B Distribution services company, and then in March 2023, Emily Stephenson was promoted to President of publishing, Downtown Music. With today’s announcement, Patterson completes the leadership team of Downtown Music’s core services.
President of Downtown Music, Pieter van Rijn, said, “At Downtown, we empower artists, creators and those businesses who represent them. We honor the value that artists bring into the world. Through his experience and affinity, Ben understands and respects the role of the artist and knows how to navigate through the unique challenges that they face today. There is no better person than Ben to lead the Artist & Label Services division, and I can’t wait to see how his leadership and passion benefit the incredible artists and labels we represent.”’
Said Ben Patterson, President, of Downtown Artist & Label Services, ”Artist independence has been the central driver of my career, and empowering artists is at the core of everything we do at Downtown. With a global team focused on artists’ success during the lifetime of their projects, the Artist and Label Services division enables artists to succeed on every platform and build a listening fanbase to sustain careers. I’m excited to continue my tenure at Downtown Music surrounded by colleagues that share the same vision and embrace the opportunity to support more artists and their teams at all stages of their careers.”
Downtown Music Holdings CEO Andrew Bergman adds, “With Ben’s move, we have completed a series of changes that we commenced two years ago, firmly establishing Downtown as the premier provider of distribution, publishing, artist, label and related services to the broader industry. We’re extremely fortunate to have Ben and the rest of the leadership team that guides this division and I am excited to see how they continue to grow and evolve.”
About Downtown
Downtown is the world's leading music services company with over 2 million clients in over 145 countries with a catalog of over 38 million music assets in a wide variety of genres and languages. Downtown's service offerings support creators and businesses in all facets of the music industry including music creation, distribution, marketing, royalty collection, financing, accounting and payment services. Downtown clients can choose to opt-in for only the services they need, in any territory they want, for as long as they want, without having to give up ownership or control of their work.
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