Tag: Music Export Memphis

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Artist Emergency Fund Distributes Grants

ArtsMemphis and Music Export Memphis are distributing $77,190 to 159 artists in Shelby County. The funds come from the Artist Emergency Fund, which became public April 1st and supports artists of all types across music, visual art, film and media arts, literary art, theater, and dance.

The fund was created through a Community Foundation of Greater Memphis COVID-19 Regional Response Fund grant and was compounded with contributions from the Assisi Foundation, Crosstown Arts, Hyde Family Foundation, and individual donors to Music Export Memphis.

Additionally, the Kresge Foundation is giving $100,000 to ArtsMemphis and $85,000 to Music Export Memphis to make continued Artist Emergency Fund granting possible.

ArtsMemphis began a community-wide survey on March 18, 2020 of arts organizations and individual artists across Shelby County to assess the impact of COVID-19. As of this week, 61 organizations and 200 individuals had completed the survey.

Survey data forecasts a total projected loss of income for March 2020 exceeding $1.19 million for organizations and $507K for individuals. Anticipated loss of income for April-June based on cancellations/postponements exceeds $7.4 million for organizations and $1.45 million for individuals. See full survey data here.

The application deadline for the next round of Artist Emergency Fund grants is April 22. Among applications of all artistic genres, Music Export Memphis will continue to partner with ArtsMemphis in receipt, review and reallocation of funds to local musicians.

“In our first round of applicants we saw an average reported loss for musicians of more than $4,000, just for gigs canceled in March and early April,” says Elizabeth Cawein, executive director of Music Export Memphis. “The hit to music professionals who rely on live performance to make a living is truly catastrophic, and it’s far from over.”

Artists may learn more and apply here.

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Music Music Blog

“Virtual Music Festival” To Raise Funds For Memphis Musicians

With social distancing as the new normal, countless musicians have taken to the internet, staging live video concerts of all kinds on multiple social media platforms. How did players manage a century ago, during the Spanish Flu pandemic? Now, at last, people have cause to be less snarky and more appreciative of online interactions, and musicians especially so.

David McClister

Southern Avenue

This week, the concept of the live-streamed music concert is being ramped up to festival-like heights, thanks to the efforts of the Memphis Music Hub, a division of Memphis Tourism, who have collaborated with I Love Memphis and Music Export Memphis to coordinate the Get Live! Memphis event. Scheduled to take place from March 26 –March 28, the series serves as a fundraiser for Music Export Memphis’ COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund.

Over the course of those days, viewers need only log on to Facebook to view live-streamed performances by nearly a dozen of Memphis’ finest musicians, including headliners MonoNeon, Ben Nichols of Lucero, Grammy-nominated band Southern Avenue, and producer IMAKEMADBEATS. 

Justin Fox Burks

IMAKEMADBEATS

“This is the time to give back to the Memphis music community that has given so much to our city’s cultural identity,” says Music Specialist Jayne Ellen White of the Memphis Music Hub. “Our music has brought such joy to so many and now is the time to speak to the world through our universal language: music.”

Ben Nichols

“Our local musicians play an integral part of the Memphis destination’s identity as a live music city,” says Kevin Kane, President and CEO of Memphis Tourism. “Their talents not only keep Memphis’ music scene vibrant but, now more than ever, they are able to share those talents to lift up, not only our local community but also a world of music fans. As people around the world connect with us during this virtual musical festival, these outstanding artists will have an opportunity to not only share their talents with new audiences, but also share messages of hope.”

Justin Fox Burks

MonoNeon

To view the festival performances, viewers need only visit the Get Live! Memphis event page on Facebook and the various performers will connect their feeds at the appointed times. The festival schedule is:

Thursday, March 26th
7:00: MonoNeon

Friday, March 27th, 8PM – 10PM
8:00: D’Monet
8:30: IMAKEMADBEATS
9:00: Louise Page
9:30: Southern Avenue

Saturday, March 28th, 8PM – 10PM
8:00: Brandon Kinder of The Wealthy West
8:30: Doll McCoy & Derek Brassel
9:00: Cameron Bethany
9:30: Ben Nichols of Lucero
Toonky Berry

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Music Music Blog

Programs Ramp Up To Assist Musicians Losing Work Due To COVID-19

CREDIT: Courtesy Blues City Cafe

Courtesy Blues City Cafe

For musicians, the brave new world we all face in the shadow of COVID-19 is especially difficult. As a recent NPR story notes, “almost at once, it seemed like the entire March calendars of musicians across the country were wiped clean. Within hours Wednesday, thousands of dollars in expected income vanished.”

While many are exploring live-streamed concerts and the tips they can provide, for many players the funds from these events are too little, too late.

But there are signs of hope for these artists, often from very local institutions who realize that if Memphis is to remain a music city, something, or someone, has got to give.

Yesterday Music Export Memphis, a nonprofit that has assisted so many touring acts based here, announced that it was launching fundraising for a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. While details of how financial assistance will be administered are still being worked out, the program is now taking donations, in anticipation of an ever-escalating need in the weeks and months to come.

The Blues Foundation is another local nonprofit that is stepping up its community assistance, with a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund for Blues Musicians. As the foundation announced that its upcoming Blues Music Awards will pivot to become a series of online events, “they are asking those who have purchased 2020 BMA tickets and/or Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony tickets to convert those purchases to donations to be applied directly to this Emergency Relief Fund. Ticket purchasers will also be offered the option for a refund of their ticket purchases or to apply those purchases to next year’s events.” Noting that The Blues Hall of Fame Museum is closed for the time being, they add that they “will continue to accept phone calls and respond to emails throughout the duration of the coronavirus pandemic.”

On a national level, other efforts have sprung into action. The Recording Academy®, which oversees the Grammy Awards, and has a strong chapter based in Memphis, has operated the MusiCares® foundation for some time. It typically offers medical relief to musicians caught off guard without insurance or other niceties of salaried jobs, but has now begun a COVID-19 Relief Fund. 

And Bandcamp, where so many independent artists offer their recorded wares (or files), made this announcement on Tuesday:

To raise even more awareness around the pandemic’s impact on musicians everywhere, we’re waiving our revenue share on sales this Friday, March 20 (from midnight to midnight Pacific Time), and rallying the Bandcamp community to put much needed money directly into artists’ pockets….Still, we consider this just a starting point.

So get online tomorrow and purchase those singles, EPs, albums, and downloads. Your spending will go directly into the pockets of musicians in need. And if you have the means, consider donating to some of the initiatives above. For a musician, it could make all the difference. 

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Music Music Blog

The Tambourine Bash: Showing Music Export Memphis Some Love

Talibah Safiya

Ah, the embarrassment of riches in a music city like Memphis. To see artists of the caliber of Nick Black, Marcella Simien, Talibah Safiya, Daz Rinko, the Unapologetic Crew and Future Everything, on two stages, is a stunning night out. The line up represents many of the latest contenders for carrying this city’s torch of genre-bending, groundbreaking music. And they’re just a sample of local artists who have benefited from the efforts of the relatively new nonprofit, Music Export Memphis, whose annual fund-raiser tonight features such artists and more.

Since last July, over two dozen bands or performers have received tour support and other funds from Music Export Memphis  to up their profiles. The nonprofit tallies that as 60 individual musicians from the heart of the city’s scene, all thankful for gaining a little more momentum in a precarious life on the road. As one of MEM’s beneficiaries (full disclosure), I should know. Having toured with the Ultrasounds, I can well appreciate the words of my boss, James Godwin, who was named one of MEM’s Ambassadors last year. (All told, MEM Ambassadors have played more than 140 shows in more than 100 U.S. cities, plus 10 countries in Europe and Asia).
Richard Schut

James & the Ultrasounds in Liverpool, 2018.

“Touring is very stressful on a person’s overall well-being,” says Godwin. “So just knowing that we had a decent place to stay after the gig rather than sleeping on someone’s floor or in a seedy motel provides a good deal of comfort and assurance. We couldn’t have done the tour without the grant. We could’ve, I suppose, but we would’ve more than likely frozen to death somewhere between London and Norwich.”

So tonight’s fund-raiser for the nonprofit feels more like a celebration of what they’ve already done. Sure, they would like music fans to stoke the fires for future work by attending their event, but this is also a good time for everyone to just give the nonprofit a hand.

When the Flyer first profiled organization founder Elizabeth Cawein’s vision in 2017, little did we anticipate the group’s success rate on the ground less than two years later. Beyond tour support, the organization is stepping up and speaking out in other markets far and wide. As their own information sheet touts:

  • MEM’s third annual showcase at AmericanaFest in Nashville, The Pure Memphis Happy Hour, drew 250 music industry attendees to see five Memphis bands and landed Talibah Safiya in NPR Music’s Best of AmericanaFest coverage. It also paid out $2,500 to Memphis artists and featured Memphis brands and culture bearers like MemPops, Old Dominick Distillery, Memphis Made Brewing, and IndieMemphis film festival.

  • For the first time, we attended A3C hip hop festival in Atlanta, where we produced a showcase featuring an all-Memphis line-up and supported three artists and one producer to attend the affiliated music industry conference, totaling more than $6,000 in support for travel, lodging and conference access.

  • In 2019, MEM will produce surprise pop-up events in key markets (including St. Louis, this Saturday, April 20) in addition to our beloved Memphis showcases at industry festivals

  • In 2018, MEM launched its Export Bank, expanding opportunities for Memphis musicians through strategic partnerships and ensuring that wherever the Memphis story is being told, music is at the center. MEM has already committed to more than $1,500 in artist payments for Export Bank partners this year.

Ultimately, no endorsements or numbers can say it quite as directly as Memphis’ own John Paul Keith, who’s just completed a massive tour of Europe to great acclaim. “For years people have been trying to figure out how to help Memphis music,” says Keith. “But this is a real, tangible, and welcome help. I can breathe a little easier about the economics of this tour now.”

The Tambourine Bash benefiting MEM, Thursday, April 18, 7-10 pm, at the Century House, 151 Vance Avenue. $50 ticket includes food from The Majestic Grille, cocktails featuring The Spirit of Memphis Music by Old Dominick Distillery, a rock star photo booth, and a silent auction featuring Memphis music items, from private house concerts to signed rare vinyl and more.

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Music Music Features

Turn Up the Volume

CREDIT: Troy Glasgow

A little over two years ago, local publicist and longtime Memphis music fan Elizabeth Cawein had a big idea. Inspired by recent trips to major music industry events such as Austin’s South By Southwest and Nashville’s Americanafest, where she saw little representation of or from Memphis, Cawein decided to take on the mantle herself.

“My vision was to build a system that benefits musicians and also drives results for the business and tourism communities,” says Cawein. “I’m passionate about this city and our musicians. I’m passionate about telling their story. I felt strongly that we were missing an opportunity to both perpetuate and reinvigorate the Memphis brand as a music city.”

To get the ball rolling, Cawein pitched the idea that would become Music Export Memphis to Phil Trenary and Amy Daniels at the Greater Memphis Chamber, who quickly got on board with the project. With their support, she was able to target a presence at the 2016 Americanafest as her inaugural event. Dubbed the Memphis Picnic, the showcase was an overwhelming success.

“We got some phenomenal earned media at Americanafest last year,” says Cawein. “Our artists were covered in No Depression, Paste, American Songwriter, and more.”

From there, Music Export Memphis more or less took off like a rocket ship. Cawein has since staged another Memphis Picnic at South By Southwest, created a songwriters exchange program with the city of Liverpool (U.K.) called “Memphis to the Mersey,” and attracted a worldwide music conference, the Music Cities Convention, to Memphis. The conference, which focuses on the role of music in civic life, will take place at the Halloran Centre October 25th-27th.

This weekend Cawein will be out on the road again promoting Memphis music — back at Americanafest, where the journey began. The second annual Memphis Picnic at Americanafest, which takes place on Saturday, September 16th at the Filming Station in Nashville, should be nothing short of an extravaganza celebration of all things Bluff City.

In addition to a stacked lineup of local performers, including Crockett Hall, Juju Bushman, Loveland Duren, Grace Askew, and the Rusty Pieces, the event will also feature edibles from the Rendevous, Corky’s, and MemPops, libations from High Cotton Brewing Company and Old Dominick Distillery, a Grizzlies photo booth, a program of Memphis-made music videos curated by IndieMemphis, and a pop-up vinyl-only record shop run by Shangri-La Records.

“I swear, I’ve never done an event that was as seamless and killer as our Americanafest event last year,” says Cawein. “I just kept waiting for something to go wrong! But we have almost doubled the number of partners represented at this event, which I’m excited about. With these events, I always want to showcase as much Memphis stuff as I possibly can — the lineup of music is the main course, and the food, drinks, and extras from Memphis are the side items.”

Beyond Americanafest, Cawein already has a few next steps in mind. Her new big idea is an ambassador’s program of sorts, which would see Music Export Memphis providing tangible tour support (i.e., money) to local artists to help get them out on the road and spread the gospel of Memphis and Memphis music.

“The reality is, they already are [ambassadors],” she says. “I want to give them a little bit of training on the talking points of why Memphis is a great place to visit and live, send them out with promotional merchandise, and cut them a check to support their tour.”

“I think my point here is that, for the most part, my ideas do not require a ton of overhead, a ton of administration. They utilize existing structures and organizations — for example, bringing in our partner the New Memphis Institute to help us with some training for the touring artists on you-should-live-in-Memphis facts — and finding ways to maximize things that are already happening, such as artists touring outside the city.”

Cawein has also recently put a board of directors for Music Export Memphis in place, so that her vision isn’t the only one guiding the organization moving forward.

“I’m excited to get out of the curation business,” she says. “I’ll always enjoy having input on that, but I think deferring to the board — a group of people who really bring varied experiences in Memphis music and varied connections to different scenes — will make this work better, more effectively, and will make Music Export Memphis better able to tell the entire Memphis music story. This was never about me picking artists for a showcase or an opportunity; I just want to facilitate the opportunity. So I’m excited to see what we can do together in 2018.”