Downtown Records has announced it is building out its synchronization team, hiring Jennifer Pearce, Céleigh Chapman and Tarik Bradford to lead its synch efforts.
“We have always reached a wide audience through games, movies and TV, so we built a new synch staff to have a fresh team culturally connected to the content,” Downtown Records chairman and CEO Josh Deutsch told Billboard. “It’s a big investment on our part,” noting the label now has one dedicated person just focusing on trailers.
With the new hires, Pearce will oversee Downtown’s commercial licensing, working with agencies, brands and other sponsors and be based in the label’s New York office. She previously worked as director of commercial licensing at Warner Bros. Records and as licensing manager at Terrorbird Media where she had numerous placements and campaigns for brands including Audi, Levi’s, American Express, Google and Target.
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Chapman, who was formerly with Columbia where she worked on strategizing and executing film, TV, and game placements for artists that included Adele, One Direction, Bob Dylan and Beyonce, will lead film, TV and videogame placements.
Bradford, with over 13 years experience in sync licensing, will focus on movie trailer synchs. Prior to Downtown, Bradford worked as senior creative director, film & television at EMI Music and director of creative licensing at Universal Music Enterprises and as creative manager/label liaison for Warner Music Group’s film and television department (where he worked on a nascent Downtown Records’ first slate of releases).
Both Chapman and Bradford are based in Los Angeles at the company’s newly opened west coast office inside the Monotone Management compound in Hollywood, CA
Earlier this year, Downtown Records separated from Downtown Publishing. “We worked collaboratively with publishing but when we bought back the record label we had to restructure to ensure the labels continue to get synch opportunities,” Deutsch said.
Downtown Records, which was founded in 2006 by Deutsch and Terence Lam, is home to Gnarls Barkley, Santigold, Miike Snow, Cold War Kids, Duck Sauce, White Denim and others. Downtown Records’ subsidiary, Downtown Events LLC, is an independently owned events and lifestyle brand.