It’s rare for an artist manager to get on a call with every single person who works at their act’s label, but at True Panther Records, the task at max requires five separate phone lines.
This all-hands-on-deck-style service is the foundation of True Panther, the New York-based label operated by four employees: founder/CEO Dean Bein, marketing head Jonah Kolik, A&R Isabel Levin and label manager Kelley Lin.
Together, they work with a roster that’s not only impressive in talent and range, but success. This group includes avant-garde electronic artists Oklou and Frost Children, who both released excellent and well-received 2025 albums, buzzy rock outfit Model/Actriz, experimental composers Elori Saxl & Henry Solomon, indie folk artist Quiet Light, and singer/songwriter Grace Ives, the latter three of whom have all released albums in 2026.
The label was founded in San Francisco by Bein in 2007 as a home for punk albums from the band he then belonged to, along with music by friends. True Panther then moved to New York and in 2008 was acquired by Matador Records/Beggars Group, an organization it stayed part of for eight years, before returning to indie status.
“The move happened before my time, but from what I’ve been told, it was a very peaceful transition,” says Lin. “Matador/Beggars was an incredible era for our label, but in order to really expand on the vision and company, we eventually found a new partnership with Virgin Music that gave us more ownership, independence in our choices, and resources to go bigger in scale.”
The move is paying off handsomely, with True Panther’s output earning it the 2026 Libera Award for label of the year with five or fewer employees at the ceremony that happened in New York this past Monday (June 8) during Indie Week. Oklou also won for best electronic record, best pop record, best remix and music video of the year, while Model/Actriz won for best heavy record. These successes help Lin and the team earn the title of Billboard‘s Executive of the Week.
Here, Lin talks about working and thriving as a small but mighty team.
What are some of True Panther’s key accomplishments from the last year that earned you the label of the year distinction?
We’re particularly proud of three albums we put out in 2025: Oklou’s choke enough, Model/Actriz’s Pirouette and Frost Children’s SISTER. These were all really high-priority projects for us, artists who had done their legwork on previous projects, and were prime for their own version of a breakout. We’re really proud of finding discrete pathways to success that are specific to each artist and project.
Since those album releases, they’ve played global festivals including Coachella, Primavera and Club to Club, been featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk and performed shows from Berghain to a Brooklyn roller-skating rink. We’ve aimed to build audiences in authentic places — whether it’s in a streaming story, a break into festival relevance, or developing a global culture all of their own.
What’s the general ethos of True Panther, and has it changed in any way over the years?
Our ethos is always changing, but we try to reach universal audiences in roundabout ways. To stay generally left-of-center, slightly weird/slightly commercially palatable, and always in support of the artist. As Isabel on our team says, we’re constantly trying to “beat the DIY allegations.”
You won the award for label of the year with five or fewer employees. With such a lean team, how do you decide what projects to focus on? How do you avoid taking on too much work?
We each fulfill our own individual roles and responsibilities, but we also cross lines all the time and support each other whenever it’s needed. Everyone has a hand in each project and we all wear a million hats. We constantly ask ourselves, “How do we add value?” If we can’t add value, then we probably shouldn’t be involved. If we don’t know how exactly to add value, then it starts to feel too much like gambling, and ultimately we care too much and are too small a label to gamble. In the end, a small team can accomplish so much when we’re all working in tandem with shared objectives and clear goals.
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Tell us about your team: who’s on it, and who does what? What are the benefits and challenges of being a small team?
Our team consists of four people: Dean Bein, our founder/CEO, is the best A&R in the business. He’s signed so many of my favorite artists and has an unbelievably rich knowledge of music, scenes, and history. I’m incredibly grateful to be learning from him every day and building True Panther alongside him.
Jonah Kolik, in marketing, is an expert at managing online trends and executing digital marketing campaigns. He’s young and somehow has such vast experience, coming from Mexican Summer and Bayonet Records, and was also a previous True Panther intern, which is when we all fell in love with him.
Isabel Levin, who does A&R, has really helped us define our taste and ethos with artists. She is a natural at discovering up-and-coming artists and showing them what True Panther is all about. She also has a ton of tour production and music video production experience, which often comes in handy for us.
I manage every project on both micro and macro levels, including budget spends, content creation, pitch campaigns, physical production, etc. I jokingly call myself a combined intern and COO.
You’ve got some really cool and crucial new artists on the label, from Frost Children to Oklou and more. How do you curate the roster?
Dean and Isabel really lead the discovery side together, but we don’t ever sign anyone without the full team’s consensus. We love to work with artists who have a unique point of view and a distinct community of fans, especially those who embrace real artistry and aren’t afraid to push the boundaries.
Why do you think working with a small label is compelling to your artists?
Something I’m really proud of is being available and accessible to all our artists. We really do care! It can be rare for artists and managers to have direct contact with every single person across a label — from intern to marketer to project manager to label head. We try to over-communicate as much as we can by throwing as many ideas into the hat, celebrating each win, no matter how small, and brainstorming through problems together.
What does the next year look like for True Panther?
So far this year, we’ve put out three amazing records: Elori Saxl & Henry Solomon’s Seeing Is Forgetting, Quiet Light’s Blue Angel Sparkling Silver 2 and Grace Ives’ Girlfriend — all of which have surpassed our expectations of how they’ve been received globally. It’s been really nice to surprise people with unexpected releases, and to also hear people say when someone fits perfectly into the True Panther roster. This year has been a great year for us in terms of developing newer artists from earlier stages in their careers.
We have a couple of very, very exciting new signings that we’re itching to announce soon, too.
How did you all celebrate your Libera Award win?
We all just got back from a team trip to Primavera Sound in Barcelona the day before the Liberas, so there was probably more celebration before the award show than after!
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Anything scaled properly can be a success. Music made with integrity, artists with a sincere vision, and the small committed teams who support them will always find a way!
