Last Monday (6/6) my wife and I caught the Aloe Blacc concert at home here in Chicago. Great show. Mr. Blacc appeared on my radar almost two years ago back in Detroit. He had a nice collection of music I thought would work well with some projects I had in mind. Boost Mobile beat me to "I Need A Dollar."

When it comes to working with artists, I have a list of lesser-known names I'd love to work with in various genres. I don't gravitate to the big names first and it's not because of budgets all of the time. I just don't want a big name to overshadow the idea or be the sole idea. The artist's contribution should enhance the idea. If you do work with a big name, it's to everyone's benefit – yours, the client, and artist – that the talent doesn't look like they were just thrown in as an afterthought. They sing. Throw in a logo and tagline. Done.

Sometimes those lesser-known names become big names and you can say, "I knew them when..."

Here's part of an insert I did almost 10 years ago with an artist who might have heard of. She goes by the name Rhianna.