'Plug In' expo helps Memphis performers navigate music business

BMI's Clay Bradley (left) with Teflon Don at last year's "Plug In Memphis".

This time last year, Donald Askew, Jr., better known as local rapper Teflon Don, had just wrapped up work on his record, God, The Government, The Game. With the tracks in hand, however, he was unsure of just what his next step should be to get his music to the public.

“At the time I didn’t have distribution,” he says. “I had a full album with bar code and everything but no CDs. There were certain little steps that I was needing.”

BMI's Clay Bradley (left) with Teflon Don at last year's "Plug In Memphis".

Then Askew, the winner of the 2008 MemphisRap.com Showcase, attended the Memphis Music Foundation’s first “Plug In Memphis: Indie Music Expo,” an event designed to connect music industry professionals with local artists, many of whom, like Askew, may not even be aware of all the goods and services that are available to them right here.

“It opened a lot of doors for me,” says Askew, who connected with music licensing company BMI, with which he recently signed, and CD duplication house Audiographics Masterworks, who ultimately ended up pressing his disc, an entry on several 2009 best local record lists and a nominee for Best Indie Rap Album of the Year at this spring’s Southern Entertainment Awards. “It really clued me in to some other areas. I’ve got a much better sense of all the available resources here now.”

On Tuesday, “Plug In Memphis” returns for its second pass at helping aspiring local musicians make their dreams come true. The free expo has moved to Minglewood Hall in Midtown but otherwise will be similar to last year’s event, which surprised organizers by attracting more that 400 people to the Memphis Botanic Garden. About 40 music businesses and organizations have already signed up to participate, representing nearly every facet of the industry including retail, web development, sound and video production, non-profits, schools, record labels, and legal services.

“I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” says Brandon Seavers of Audiographics Masterworks, which saw a steady stream of business come into its Bartlett shop following last year’s event. “We ran out of everything we had to give out (at the event), and there was a line at the table non-stop.”

Also returning to the expo this year will be the “Expert’s Lounge,” a room where artists can get one-on-one consultations with professionals in various music-related fields. Among those whose brains will be available for picking are Greg Lane of Memphis marketing firm GMotion, India.Arie manager Reen Nalli, musician and PR expert Marvin Stockwell, entertainment lawyer Malcolm Futhey, Scott Bartlett of Virgin recording artists Saving Abel, representatives of artist development site WRUGradio.com, and acclaimed North Carolina hip hop producer Patrick Douthit, who works under the name 9th Wonder.

Douthit, who has worked with Destiny’s Child, Nas, Mary J. Blige, and Jay-Z, will also give a rare live performance, headlining the expo’s expanded Songwriter’s Showcase. An eclectic lineup of artists, including rapper Lil Noid, Latin singer-songwriter Rigo Ruiz, Christian artist Josh Threlkeld, and R&B performer Kris Thomas, will fill out the bill, performing in Minglewood’s Club 1884.

“Last year the showcase was a small component of ‘Plug In,’ and this year really wanted to cast a spotlight on some of the emerging talent out there,” says the music foundation’s director of development and communications, Pat Mitchell-Worley. “These are acts that you might not have seen in the course of going out, but they really represent the incredible breadth of the music scene.”

“Plug In” was born out of conversations members of the seven-year-old non-profit had with Tonya Butler, an entertainment attorney and assistant professor with the Rudi. E. Scheidt School of Music, says Mitchell-Worley.

“She was saying how she has people coming to her, and they need a lawyer but they come to her after the fact, after they’ve already signed the contract. And she was like, ‘It’s too bad there’s not something in town where artists and companies can meet.’”

The foundation quickly realized that such an event curtailed nicely with their ongoing efforts to improve professional opportunities for local artists, efforts that have included an ongoing presence at the massive industry confab South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, and an upcoming showcase swap between Memphis and Nashville via Music City’s famous Bluebird Café. Most recently the foundation helped facilitate a Yamaha sponsorship deal for local soul singer Ryan Pell.

“The mission of the foundation is music as an economic engine for Memphis,” says Mitchell-Worley. “And part of that is this infrastructure, these services that are needed by musicians. There needs to be a connection between them, so that the musicians are not going out of town looking for services. They need to realize those services are available right here in Memphis.”

Plug In Memphis: Indie Music Expo

5:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday at Minglewood Hall, 1555 Madison Ave. Admission: Free. For more information, call 527-1029 or visit memphismeansmusic.com.

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