An Adelaide busker who records music under the moniker Attonbitus may have signed with a record label thanks to a manhunt kickstarted by a desperate label rep who took to Reddit to try and track him down.
As Rip It Up reports, last week, a post titled ‘PLEASE HELP ME FIND THIS BUSKER TO SIGN HIM‘ appeared on Reddit’s Adelaide subreddit, with a link to a Tumblr post featuring a video of local busker Michael Brigante playing in Rundle Mall.
Some redditors were skeptical about whether or not the person who made the post was really an agent or just a troll, until one helpful user finally revealed Brigante’s identity. As it turns out, the whole thing might be legit.
Speaking to Rip It Up, Brigante revealed he’s been busking for “about two years. The first year was on and off, but now I do it as often as I can. It’s my living.” He’s also been active over on SoundCloud.
Brigante can often be spotted around the Adelaide CBD, setting up his guitar outside Miss Gladys Sym Choon or the Rundle Mall fountain. “I play for 4 to 5 hours,” he told Rip It Up. “I just don’t like applying for jobs!”
As for the signing, Brigante says he and the label are “still going through the process”. According to Brigante, the label rep who made the reddit post was “from LA, the president of a company called 5AM Collective.”
“They’re an extension from Interscope and they direct and retrieve artist info from A&R scouts,” Brigante explained to Rip It Up. “They’re connected to Electra Records, Warner Music, and Universal.”
As Rip It Up note, 5AM Collective is also home to The Moth & The Flame, who made headlines after they accused a UK skateboarding magazine of ripping off their then-latest music video, prompting a wave of viral action against the mag.
However, while many rushed to defend the band, a skeptical few suggested the whole thing may have been an orchestrated viral marketing campaign to promote the band’s new single.
So is Brigante’s “discovery” via Reddit just another viral campaign plot by a label who’s been accused of such machinations in the past? Who knows? Either way, you should check Brigante out, because he’s really quite talented.
