Industry Insider: Louis Godfrey On Building ART @ PACE And Shaping The Next Generation Of Electronic Artists
Dance music’s biggest careers are built by considerably more people than the artist standing behind the decks.
For close to four years, Louis Godfrey saw that process at its highest level. Working across FISHER’s day-to-day management and creative operation placed him inside a global touring business encompassing everything from line-ups and brand partnerships to content, artwork and the wider presentation of shows and releases.
At the beginning of 2026, Godfrey stepped away to establish ART @ PACE, an independent management and creative company through which he is now applying that experience at a very different stage of an artist’s career.
“It was always a goal of mine to have my own Management Agency,” he says. “Working with Brunello gave me the confidence to make that leap.”
The company’s name offers an insight into the management philosophy behind it. For Godfrey, everything begins with the creative work itself. The manager’s role is then to recognise when and how to build momentum around it.
“I think good art is always the starting point. Once you have that, it is The Managers Job to move with Pace and get it out in the world in the best way possible.”
Brunello became ART @ PACE’s first client, and the reasoning behind the decision was considerably simpler than any discussion of data, marketability or strategy.
“His music man… it is so special.”
Since then, the relationship has developed into something broader. Brunello has appeared at Coachella, Lightning in a Bottle and Raw Cuts at Santa Monica Pier, while Mellow Circus has grown across independently released music, events, merchandise and its own visual identity.
The project has sold out events in Miami and New York, achieved multiple Beatport number ones and sold through three merchandise drops. For Godfrey, maintaining the personality behind that growth comes down to a straightforward principle.
“Stay weird, and always true to the vision.”
Of the milestones so far, Coachella inevitably stands out. Yet Godfrey points towards a different moment when considering what has felt most significant from a management perspective.
“Coachella is hard to beat, but I would say the first Mellow Circus event at Club Space. That was truly special, and everyone in that room could feel it.”
There is a notable contrast between Godfrey’s two chapters in management. With FISHER, he experienced the demands surrounding an artist operating at global headline level. With ART @ PACE, he is involved much earlier, helping establish the creative and professional foundations from which a career can develop.
The latter has brought an unexpected reward.
Asked what surprised him most about making that transition, Godfrey’s answer is concise: “How rewarding it is to work with an artist from the start.”
It also means making decisions before success is necessarily quantifiable. Streaming figures, ticket sales and social metrics can demonstrate momentum once it exists, but identifying an artist worth investing time in requires looking elsewhere.
“The music, how they hold and carry themselves, and the vision for their project.”
Hilel Lev became ART @ PACE’s second signing, bringing another distinct creative identity into the company. Once again, Godfrey says the decision began with the records rather than a calculated assessment of where they might fit into the market.
“Again, it was his music. There is something so unique about it and all I want to do is hear it blasting on big club speakers.”
That artist-led approach also informs how Godfrey handles one of management’s more difficult balancing acts. When a record, booking or idea begins generating attention, there can be considerable pressure to capitalise while the opportunity is there. Moving quickly, however, risks allowing momentum to dictate an artist’s direction.
Godfrey’s position is unequivocal.
“Artist first, always.”
It is a deceptively simple principle within an industry that increasingly provides managers with more information than ever before. Data can show where records are moving, where audiences are growing and where opportunities might exist, but ART @ PACE’s opening year suggests Godfrey is equally interested in the less measurable elements of artist development: identity, creative conviction and whether something can grow without losing what made it interesting in the first place.
His experience across both ends of that spectrum gives him an unusual perspective. He has worked inside the infrastructure surrounding an internationally established electronic artist and is now taking those lessons into projects where much of that infrastructure still needs to be created.
The ambition is not simply to replicate the same career blueprint on a smaller scale. ART @ PACE instead gives Godfrey the opportunity to build around the individual artist, with management, creative direction, releases, events and wider presentation developing alongside the music rather than ahead of it.
Less than a year into the company’s story, there are already tangible markers of progress. Yet when asked what meaningful growth over the next 12 months would actually look like, Godfrey again returns to the people and creative work at its centre.
“Happy artists and amazing art being supported by an incredible team. If the artists are happy and the creativity is flowing then there is nothing that can stand in the way.”
There is, however, one more item on the list.
“Oh and a residency…”
After spending close to four years helping operate within one of electronic music’s biggest artist teams, Godfrey has chosen to take what he learned and return to the beginning of the process.
ART @ PACE is still young, but the intention behind it is already defined: find artists with distinctive music and a clear vision, build the right team around them and create the conditions for both the art and the career to move forward at the right pace.
