Music
BEHIND THE SCENES: Mike Fazio "Music-preneur"
This week I had the pleasure of meeting with Mike Fazio, one of the hottest booking agents you’ve never heard of. If you’re into the burgeoning Trap and Jersey Club music scenes, then you already know.
He’s a booking agent at Moodswing360 who currently represents artists such as Dj Sliink, Dirty South Joe, Lil Debbie and more, credible names in an incredibly quick growing music genre. His résumé goes way beyond that, but to understand his work, you need to understand his history. He’s a Philly-born stud who grew up immersed in the now massive music culture that has taken over Philadelphia, a city that has had undeniable success as of lately in the world of burgeoning music (ala Diplo and Mad Decent a party that Fazzio is no stranger to).
He started as promoter, booking local talent, building relationships and working in all the clubs. He was always “fascinated by the DJ’s power to influence dance floors and manipulate energies.” At the time Philly provided very limited entertainment, so it was a perfect place to develop a home-grown scene. While attending temple, his apartment doubled as a recording studio where he pretty much recorded every known Philly artist. As his network began to grow, Fazio moved to Atlantic City where he started consulting and booking talent for local nightlife venues. He lived the life of bottles, models,champagne, velvet ropes -- rubbing elbows with all of the celebrities.
It's rare to see the promoter who can break free of the club life and cross over into the world of booking talent/music industry. Usually promoters get stuck, but Mike Fazio’s direct involvement with artists has allowed him to pull the strings and make deals happen. During our sit down his phone was blowing up the whole time. It was difficult to get more than 20 uninterrupted minutes of his attention. I was able to catch one his conversations in which he said: “This is how it’s done, this how we’re doing it, so let’s make sure it happens.” This is the type of guy who gets results. Always on the go, but also taking the time to flirt with the waitress, Fazio is on the come up. He’s got the charisma, connections and no bullshit attitude to get shit done.
Mike Fazio takes pride in bringing new sounds to the market, he always has an ear out for the next big sound on the horizon. He considers himself a pizza aficionado -- judging by his Instagram, he’s right. Currently he’s pioneering the new Trap House sound to every market. This month he launched the Trap Certified Tour featuring Dj Sliink -- one of Vibe magazine's top 30 Djs to watch in 2013, also #2 on that 15 people Kanye West should sign list -- LOUDPVCK, Dirty South Joe and FKi. Faz likes to see his crowd throw dem’ bows to Trap and twerk it to Jersey Club. More info about the tour and Fazio is below. Tune in, follow along (@mikefazio), and enjoy.
Event info: http://www.certifiedtrap.com
Fazzio’s team:
