Downtown Enters Joint Venture With Cowboys & Pirates Focused on Cultivating Hip-Hop and R&B Songwriters, Producers

New York, NY, April 18, 2019 — Downtown Music Publishing has entered into a joint venture with independent publisher Cowboys & Pirates, the company announced today. The collaboration is focused on developing new songwriters and producers within the hip-hop and R&B songwriting community, which has traditionally been underrepresented in the music publishing industry. In addition, the joint venture announced its first two signings: producer, songwriter, and instrumentalist John Key and songwriter James “SuperChilly” Carver.

“We are running the marathon with our songwriters,” said Cowboys & Pirates’ Ty Baisden, professionally known as Worldwide Ty. “I’ve come across many talented, accomplished writers who still don’t understand the ins and outs of modern music publishing. We want to empower, educate, and develop our talent the right way. Downtown’s creative capacity, resources, and expertise will help us to take them to the next level, and we’re excited to be working together.”

With a proven track record of developing talent, Atlanta-based Baisden represents artists such as Sonder, Brent Faiyaz, Amber Olivier, Troi Irons, Diana Gordon, Grip, Wintertime, and Pablo Dylan through his newly-minted company, Colture — which he manages alongside Jayne Andrew. Cowboys & Pirates is headed by Baisden with Tawana Nettles serving as General Manager. 

“We’ve known Ty and the team for years and once we saw what they were building, we knew it would be a great cultural fit,” added Downtown COO Andrew Bergman on the partnership. “We had high hopes for the venture, but the fact that we were able to begin the relationship by signing deals with John and James exceeded our expectations. We’re also really excited for John and we believe the work he did with Solange is a harbinger of other great things to come.”

One of Cowboys & Pirates’ first signees, Key played a significant role in Solange’s most recent album, When I Get Home, contributing to 10 songs — including the video single “Binz,” which he both co-wrote and co-produced. The New Orleans native got his start in the music business after attending the coveted Berklee College of Music, ultimately settling in Atlanta. He has worked with various bands and artists including Janelle Monáe’s Wondaland-affiliated duo St. Beauty and BOSCO, both of which he toured with as a drummer — also serving as the latter’s musical director.

Between tours with Solange, BOSCO, and St. Beauty, Key has performed at esteemed festivals including Coachella, SXSW, Roots Picnic, Afropunk, Fool’s Gold Day Off, and Essence Music Festival, among many others. He has also played on television programs such as Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Carver, the venture’s first signee, is a multi-talented songwriter from Rockland County, New York, known for a style that fuses rap and singing. He has worked with both contemporary hitmaker producers and celebrated legends from Hit-Boy and Bizness Boi to No I.D. and Salaam Remi. 

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About Downtown Music Publishing

Established in 2007, Downtown Music Publishing is one of the world's leading music rights management firms offering bespoke creative publishing services to some of the world’s most beloved songwriters and storied music catalogs. The company's catalog spans over 100 years of popular music, including legends and iconic songwriters The Beatles, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Booker T. Jones, The Kinks, Mötley Crüe, Mos Def, Phish, Tori Amos, Hans Zimmer, and John Prine, as well as today’s hitmaker songwriters such as Ryan Tedder, Benny Blanco, One Direction, Santigold, and Jimmy Napes. With offices in major music markets around the globe, Downtown also represents critically-acclaimed emerging talent, including Phony Ppl, Theophilus London, Mae Muller, Cautious Clay, Stella Donnelly, among others. Downtown Music Publishing is owned and operated by Downtown Music Holdings. More information is available at http://dmpgroup.com.