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.
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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.
