Allow Us to Introduce Ourselves...

When we first began our journey, we were in our small corner office in Young Avenue Sound, found in the trendy and historic, art infused community of Cooper Young. Our booking agency, Virtuosity Memphis, was still in its infancy, and we had a growing roster of talented clients. We were struggling with exposure and door gig offers, and almost weekly we had a meeting asking whether we should cut our losses and let it all go. Something told us that we were on to something. We didn’t have years of experience in the music industry, unlike many of our competitors, but that could very well be our advantage. We hadn’t been in the industry long enough to be changed by it. We had fresh perspectives, big dreams and a love for music that was always there.

This building, which houses a fully functioning recording studio, along with two full time occupants of another one, had this energy you can’t find just anywhere. You felt it when you walked in, and a little piece of it finds its way into every project coming out of here. We somewhat fell in love with it from the minute we first looked at the office space, and nothing but good has come out of our residency here. Being submersed in the creative space that has held within its walls the voices of Bobby Blue Bland, YoGotti, and music found on all of Justin Timberlakes albums, was like a blood transfusion for our thought processes. Before you start to think I am a little crazy and obsessive over this building, which I am, let me explain. Walking into a funeral home or cemetery, you feel a heavy energy from the sadness found within its walls. Try it. Now think about how it feels at a concert, or Disneyland… happiness, and borderline euphoria from all the people, past and present who made memories. The energy of this building, the feeling I am speaking of, is the psychic energy of every songwriter, producer and musician who has graced this place, and seen their idea come to life.

The energy they left here sparked the birth of New V Music. Talented musicians are everywhere, but a select few make it. Success is a relative and subjective term. Many feel successful from having an audience, a loyal fan base, and the opportunity to play. Others view success from a financial standpoint, or by how famous they become. Sadly, some of the most talented musicians you will every meet will never see the latter. Even more sad, some will get so close to it, but only truly become famous, posthumously. Chris Bell (Big Star) whose albums garnered very little success when made in the 70s, became iconic with an almost cult following during the 80’s with REM, the Replacements, and many others citing it as inspiration. Bad marketing, limited distribution, and other factors made this now iconic musician never see the fruits of his labor before his passing in 1974, shortly after the release of the third album, Third/Sister Lovers. Jeff Buckley died after recording his only studio album, Grace, while living in Memphis, but his album saw little commercial success. His Leonard Cohen cover of “Hallelujah,” with what is now referred to as his “tortured angelic voice” (Rolling Stone, July 14, 2016) became the anthem for 9/11. Grace made it to number 4 on the “40 Greatest One Album Wonders” list by Rolling Stone. Memphis in itself has an energy which not only drives musicians to move here in droves, but the Delta has sparked some of the best albums ever made. This is another blog to be written.

Our original concept was to create a platform to highlight the unknowns and has morphed into an inside game of “Pick the next big thing,” and we invite you to play along by sending us music to listen to. We wager every week with features we feel will be on the track to fame with alumni such as Khalid, Goody Grace, BlackBear, and Lauren Sanderson. We cross genres, and we even have a segment dedicated to our love for the city of Memphis called the #901Spotlight with local only artists. What started as a love project of something we wanted to see for our clients’ benefit has morphed into it’s own little entity. Our baby has grown up. We hope you enjoy our little game.