Downtown Music Publishing has entered into a joint venture with independent publisher Cowboys & Pirates.
The collaboration is focused on developing new songwriters and producers within the hip-hop and R&B songwriting community.
In addition, the JV announced its first two signings: producer, songwriter, and instrumentalist John Key and songwriter James “SuperChilly” Carver.
Cowboys & Pirates is headed by Ty Baisden with Tawana Nettles serving as General Manager.
Atlanta-based Baisden represents artists such as Sonder, Brent Faiyaz, Amber Olivier, Troi Irons, Diana Gordon, Grip, Wintertime, and Pablo Dylan through his newly-formed company, Colture — which he manages alongside Jayne Andrews.
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.
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 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 is a songwriter that has worked with both contemporary hitmaker producers and celebrated legends from Hit-Boy and Bizness Boi to No I.D. and Salaam Remi.
“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.”
Ty Baisden, Cowboys & Pirates
“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.”
“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.”
Andrew Bergman, Downtown
Downtown COO Andrew Bergman added: “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.
“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.”
Downtown recently acquired AVL Digital Group and its portfolio of businesses, including CD Baby, AdRev, DashGo and Soundrop.Music Business Worldwide
