Ben Patterson, 42
Founder/CEO, DashGo

In March 2019, Downtown acquired AVL Digital Group, the parent company of distributor DashGo. (AVL had previously acquired the online indie distributor CD Baby in 2018.) The Downtown deal “really supercharged our ability to support” global growth, says Patterson. Shared assets now stretch from Brazil to Taiwan to complement DashGo’s 15-person staff in its Los Angeles headquarters. Under Patterson, the company has grown to the point where DashGo’s indie artists and labels average over 1 billion combined monthly streams, with its application programming interface powering two dozen platforms worldwide. He’s especially proud that DashGo-distributed regional Mexican group Los Tucanes de Tijuana made the main stage at Coachella in 2019.

Looking Forward to When: He can “load the kids in the car and wander aimlessly around a big-box store.”