Dominic Fike, at First

The New York Times Presents, 2020. Role: Director/Producer.

Dominic Fike was fresh out of jail when he landed a multimillion-dollar record deal. He didn’t have an album or even a single that could be heard, but a few mysterious demo tracks posted to the internet were enough to kick off a frenzied bidding war for an artist who record executives believed could be their next breakout star.

It was a big bet to make on an artist with no music anyone had heard, and Fike’s genre-bending crossover appeal prompted some critics to speculate that he was a music-industry plant, dreamed up by marketing executives.

The making of the album — and Fike as an artist — was a winding process of self-discovery at the same time the music industry was trying to find its footing in a marketplace transformed by streaming, touring and social media.

Producer/Director Alexandra Garcia
Reporter Joe Coscarelli 
Director of Photography Victor Tadashi Suarez
Video Editors Sean Frechette, Geoff O’Brien, Seth Skundrick
Associate Producers Brennan Cusack, Wesley Harris, Valerie Schenkman
Senior Story Editors Dan Barry, Liz O. Baylen, Liz Day