- TOPS has signed with Alisa Preisler of Ground Control Touring for live music/touring representation worldwide, excluding Africa, Europe/UK, and the Middle East.
- The band continues with Toutpartout for Europe/UK, Arbutus Records for management, and Orienteer for U.S. publicity.
- TOPS's fifth album, Bury the Key, arrived on Ghostly International in August 2025 and was preceded by a set at Coachella and followed by an appearance at Austin City Limits.
- Ground Control Touring has been on an active signing streak, recently adding Navy Blue, Adult DVD, and Mage Tears to its roster.
TOPS, the Montreal indie-pop band led by Jane Penny and David Carriere, has signed with Ground Control Touring for worldwide live music and touring representation, excluding Africa, Europe/UK, and the Middle East. Agent Alisa Preisler will handle the band’s bookings across those territories.
The band’s European/UK touring stays in place with Toutpartout. On the business side, TOPS continues to be managed by Sebastian Cowan, founder of Arbutus Records, the Montreal label and management company that first signed the band in 2012. Publicity duties remain with Orienteer. TOPS’s booking history includes past stints with MB Touring and United Talent Agency (UTA).
Formed in 2011 by Penny and Carriere, later joined by drummer Riley Fleck and keyboardist Marta Cikojevic, TOPS built its catalogue on Arbutus before moving to Ghostly International for 2025’s Bury the Key, its first full-length since 2020.
The self-produced record leaned into a darker, disco-tinged sound, and the band supported it with sets at Coachella and Austin City Limits, plus a run of North American headline dates.
Ground Control Touring has been active lately: the agency recently signed Navy Blue for worldwide representation, brought on Adult DVD for North and South America, and added Mage Tears for a worldwide deal.
Takeaways
This deal keeps most of TOPS’s business intact while sharpening the band’s live-music engine outside Europe.
Preisler already reps acts like Wet and Chastity Belt, so pairing her with a band coming off a genre-shifting album and big 2025 festival slots suggests GCT sees room to build TOPS’s footprint in markets like Asia, Australia, and Latin America.
Keeping Arbutus, Toutpartout, and Orienteer in place also shows this is a targeted expansion, not an overhaul.
Could this deal push TOPS toward bigger North American festival slots in 2026-27? Could GCT’s growing indie-pop roster open co-bill opportunities between TOPS and agency mates like Wet or Chastity Belt?
