Ben Patterson has been promoted to president of Downtown Music’s 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 repertoire of artists and labels previously serviced by DashGo and Downtown Music Services.
Patterson founded DashGo in 2004, which Downtown acquired in 2019. Since then he has served as COO of Downtown Music Services, the combined publishing and distribution service that served as the precursor to Downtown Music.
Having already expanded the worldwide distribution business in South America and the U.K., Patterson will continue to grow the scope of services to new genres and markets while providing support for artists and labels. Artist & Label Services will expand into new areas such as project management, short-form video strategy, social media, creative and digital advertising worldwide.
“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,” Downtown Music President Pieter van Rijn said. “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.”
Under Patterson’s management, Downtown Music Services’ distribution business revenues grew 250% year over year, owing to a focus on thriving genres such as Musica Mexicana and LoFi.
“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,” Downtown Music Holdings CEO Andrew Bergman said. “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.”
