Ben Patterson has been promoted to president of Downtown’s artist & label services division.
The division was born from Downtown’s distribution arm, DashGo, and is a key component of the company’s core mission to “empower artists and build an equitable music ecosystem”.
Downtown artist & label services will provide a home to the repertoire of artists and labels previously serviced by DashGo and Downtown Music Services.
Los Angeles-based Patterson is an industry veteran who has spent his 20-plus year career working with artists. He previously served in senior roles at The Firm and GMG Entertainment, and founded DashGo in 2004, with the 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-on-year with releases from artists including Cheat Codes, Los Tucanes De Tijuana, and TV Girl, and labels such as Avex USA's Selene, Nataniel Cano's Los CT and New 11.
In 2022, Patterson’s team, along with Zach Hancock from Downtown Studios, launched a Dolby 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 support for marquee artists and labels. The division continues to expand into new areas such as 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 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. Last month, 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.
Pieter van Rijn, president of Downtown Music, said: “At Downtown, we empower artists, creators and those businesses who represent them. We honour 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.”
Ben Patterson, president of Downtown artist & label services, said: “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 & 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 added: “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.”
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