I recently attended my first Tweet-Up – and the first one of 2009 for the Detroit Tweet-Up Network (you might want to join if you aren’t already) – at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Novi. It was nuts as there were over 80 people in attendance. Many of the major social media enthusiasts were in the mix like Shannon Paul, Charlie Wollborg, Henry Balanon and Brandon Chesnutt. The event was overwhelming, but I got to meet a lot of people that I connect with daily on Twitter. The greatest thing that happened was I got to reconnect with an old chum that I know from college – Fabian Halabou of Fancy Lad Music.
I was excited to see someone I knew looking to shop their musical talents for commercial use. I know many an artist might frown at the idea, but at the end of the day, we all need to feed ourselves. The talented guys at Fancy Lad definitely have the skills to pay the bills, but they decided to legitimately set themselves up to possibly see some real income from it. Fabian and his business partners are looking to connect with local and national ad agencies that want good revelant tunes (read: hip music) to add “flavor” to their marketing campaigns. The one thing I always notice when I hear some of the music in various commercials is that a lot of it is hit-or-miss. Folks like Fancy Lad would be a good place to find quality tunes that would strike a chord with a variety of audiences. The guys can do everything from pop rock to hip hop to abstract electronica and I will vouch that it is all solid. Don’t believe me? See for yourself, check out their demo reel that they have available on their website. You can even download 14 of their tracks for your MP3 player!
My boy Fabian is also a member of a local Detroit band called The Silent Years in which he plays guitar. I’ve been chilling to their soothing pop rock sounds for the past couple of days as I realized they have their first album available for free. You should definitely give this a listen if you’re not a chump or a poser.