The music industry is an unpredictable beast. If anything has shown over the past decade of its existence, this is it. Any truthful account of its story will include countless rebels and upstarts, people determined to shake things up and bring the game back to its roots.
That’s what Shane Foster has done. When the former Army paratrooper got discharged from the military, he threw himself into the music business, first working as an intern for Def Jam, then as a marketing executive for LiveNation Entertainment.
But according to Foster, he soon began to feel like he was “worth more than the company was valuing me.” And so he left to form DFD Music LLC with collaborator Christopher Davis, aka “Davis Chris.”
That was four years ago, and DFD Music has already started to make waves in the worlds of hip-hop and R&B. Several of the production company’s releases have charted on both iTunes and the R&B charts, and Foster and Davis themselves have worked with the likes of Young Dolph, Yo Gotti, Silkk the Shocker and others.
That so many established names in hip-hop are willing to be associated with DFD speaks to why Foster wanted to found it in the first place. “We bring energy to music, something new and fresh, something that puts the artist’s voice first.” Much as Foster felt that his voice and talents were not explored to full potential, so does much of the bigger sectors of the industry show a lack of consideration for the artists’ wants, needs, strengths, ideas.
Hence the need for outfits like Foster’s – DFD. Foster is quick to note that they have pulled off some stunning feats without the backing of major labels. They’ve staged ten-city tours, recorded songs that have featured in major shows and movies, and all said been part of musical projects that have moved hundreds of thousands of units and been streamed well over a million times. If these accomplishments show anything, it’s that it’s not just artists who are hungry for these new voices often neglected by the industry, but listeners too.
