MEMFest Popular Music Festival

we could center the Music Business program around the label designing classes to interface with the label. Gaining real-world experience through professional work on a widely distributed label with both new and catalog music gives our students an advantage over their counterparts at other schools.

High Water’s mission of preserving the region’s music directed us to identify a local artist. The artist’s tenure with the label would ideally provide valuable experience for Music Industry students and catalyze more profitable opportunities for the artist. The High Water Artist Residency was born.

This April, High Water announced its relaunch and its first Artist-in-Residence, Talibah Safiya, a Memphis native, with a concert at the Green Room at Crosstown Arts. The spring 2022 Concerts and Touring class, taught by Jeff Cohran, Instructor of Music Business, produced the sold-out show, with a recording of the performance being released on High Water this year by the Record Company Operations class.

Over the 2022-23 academic year, Safiya will collaborate on various projects with students and Music Industry program partners in recorded and live performances and host masterclasses for School of Music students. Planned events include the Hear901 Festival at the Overton Park Shell on August 21 and a documentary exhibit bridging High Water’s past to its present release in October.

In addition to the artist residency, the label is pursuing several opportunities and securing partnerships to enhance students’ learning experiences and equip them with a toolbelt of skills to use in the workforce. High Water’s partnership with TrackLib to license its catalog will allow students to interface with the platform and experience the licensing process firsthand. This subscription service was created for producers and artists to sample music and is endorsed by industry heavyweights such as Questlove, Jazzy Jeff and Ludacris. The partnership will introduce the High Water catalog to a new generation of musicians, producers, artists and music fans. The catalog will be made available on the site this summer.

High Water will continue its partnership with SelectO-Hits, the Memphis-based record label distributor run by music legends Sam W. Phillips and John Phillips. The company distributes artists such as Jimmy Buffett, Three 6 Mafia and Johnnie Taylor and distributes High Water’s music internationally in digital and physical formats.

Additionally, High Water distributes royalties to its artists, writers and, in some cases, their estates. Over the past year, we have spent countless hours overhauling our royalty accounting system and look forward to announcing a partnership with an industry-leading service provider in the coming months.

High Water’s future possibilities are endless. We hope to continue its legacy of preserving art that’s important to our community, launching the careers of legendary musicians and, most importantly, providing a training ground for tomorrow’s music executives, artists and technicians.

Highwater Harps of Melody: Holy Ghost Spirituals

Highwater Harps of Melody: Holy Ghost Spirituals

Highwater: The Fieldstones

Highwater Harps of Melody: Holy Ghost Spirituals