Celebrity Name: Otto Benson (also known as Memo Boy)
New Company: Ground Control Touring (GCT) & ROAM Artists
Primary Agent: Eric Dimenstein & Luke Osenberg (GCT), Will Church (ROAM Artists)
Department: Touring / Live Bookings
Territory: Worldwide ex-EU (GCT) / EU (ROAM)
- Brooklyn-based artist Otto Benson, formerly known online as “Memo Boy,” has signed with independent boutique agency Ground Control Touring (GCT) for worldwide bookings outside of Europe, with agents Luke Osenberg and Eric Dimenstein at the helm.
- ROAM Artists, the global independent agency formed in 2025 from the merger of Arrival Artists and ATC Live, will cover Otto’s European territory.
- The signing lands as Otto embarks on a 17-date North American tour running from March through April 2026, supporting his debut vocal album Peanut.
- Peanut, Otto’s first vocally-focused project, earned a Pitchfork review in January 2026, marking a significant step up in critical visibility for the experimental indie artist.
Brooklyn musician Otto Benson has officially signed with Ground Control Touring (GCT) and ROAM Artists for global booking representation; a move that signals a new, more intentional chapter for one of indie music’s quietly rising names. He continues to be managed by New Community Management.
Benson, who first caught the internet’s attention under his teenage alias “Memo Boy,” has spent years building a dedicated cult following through casually released demos, online collaborations, and deeply personal experimental instrumentals.
His sound, which blends emotional vulnerability with surreal, introspective textures, has evolved steadily since those early SoundCloud days.
Now, with Peanut, his first vocally-focused album, Benson is ready to step into larger rooms. The album was designed as a quiet companion for anyone navigating the American landscape, offering solace, mystery, and internal reflection. A Pitchfork review in January 2026 confirmed what fans already knew: Otto Benson is an artist worth watching.
GCT, the independent boutique agency founded in 2000 and led by president Eric Dimenstein, will represent Benson for worldwide bookings outside Europe, alongside agent Luke Osenberg.
Celebrating 25 years in business, GCT is home to a respected roster that includes Waxahatchee, Japanese Breakfast, Bright Eyes, and Kurt Vile, exactly the kind of critically adored indie company Benson fits naturally within.
For European territory, ROAM Artists steps in. The powerhouse independent agency launched in September 2025 through the merger of Arrival Artists and ATC Live, now representing over 800 artists across offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, and Glasgow.
ROAM is already making moves in the indie space in 2026; earlier this year, Momo Boyd also signed with ROAM Artists for North and South American representation.
Benson’s upcoming North American run kicks off March 16 in Atlanta and wraps in Seattle on April 8, hitting cities including Brooklyn, Chicago, Denver, and Vancouver along the way. It’s a telling tour: mid-size, curated venues that match the intimacy of his music.
This year is also proving to be a busy one for independent artists making major agency moves, as seen with KT Tunstall signing with The Feldman Agency and Ecca Vandal landing at CAA, both in February 2026.
Takeaways
This signing is a textbook example of smart, split-territory deal-making for indie artists going global. By pairing a boutique U.S. agency with deep roots in the alternative scene (GCT) with a freshly merged transatlantic powerhouse (ROAM), Benson gets the best of both worlds: personal attention on home turf and serious infrastructure for European expansion.
What makes this particularly notable is the timing. Peanut just received a Pitchfork co-sign, and a 17-date North American tour is already live. This isn’t a signing in anticipation of a career, it’s a signing mid-momentum. That’s exactly when agency deals tend to have the most impact.
For ROAM, it’s another early signal that the 2025-launched agency is moving fast and decisively in the indie/alternative space. Every name added to their roster in these early months helps define their identity. Otto Benson fits that bill perfectly.
And for GCT celebrating 25 years, signing a young, buzzing experimental artist like Benson shows the boutique model is still very much alive and relevant.
Could ROAM’s European connections push Otto Benson onto major festival lineups for summer 2026? Is the split-territory model (GCT for WW ex-EU, ROAM for EU) becoming the new standard for indie artists trying to scale globally?
