DFTBA stands for Don't Forget to be Awesome, the central tenet of Nerdfighters, a huge community of online social video creators and lovers. DFTBA Records was started in order to help to grow this community of intelligent people as well as give recording artists the support they need to create, distribute and market their music through YouTube.
Hank founded DFTBA with Alan Lastufka in early 2009 and by the end of that year, had already paid more than $90,000 to artists on the label. DFTBA is on path to triple that number in 2010.
DFTBA represents some of the most popular personalities in online video» including Charlie McDonnell, Rhett and Link, Dave Days and Venetian Princess. But they are also working with artists who's audiences are just beginning to grow.
While online video is a fantastic marketing tool» artists rarely have the time or money to print and ship their own work. Working with traditional record labels is either impractical or undesirable, DFTBA fills the gap, helping provide excellent products and help artists make a living from their successes in online video.