Throw a stone in any city and you're likely to hit at least one starving artist whose talents are wasting away unseen and unappreciated. But if the idealistic creators of online magazine Plug-In have anything to say about it, the high-tech age is going to take those artists out of attic garrets and put them on the right track to success. Launched Monday, Plug-In is hoping to use the Net as an information tool, community, and platform for struggling artists, musicians, and writers looking to get their foot in the door.
"The concept [of Plug-In] isn't necessarily unique - we've seen other people doing things like this before," says Jeff Patterson, president of IUMA, which for the past several years has provided an Internet presence for unsigned musicians. "But I don't think anyone's been looking at all the angles and putting them together like this."
A labor of love by the employees of InTech, a New York Web-consulting firm, Plug-In emerged from its creators' experiences as - and friendships with - emerging designers, musicians, writers, and artists. Included in the first issue of the magazine is an interview with up-and-coming writer Sebastian Junger and reviews of New York City hangouts, as well as profiles of fresh faces in the fashion and hip hop industries. Plug-In plans to use better-known artists as resources for advice columns rather than as material for features - in a different twist, the unknown talent will be the focus of interviews.
But the site is first and foremost a resource, says editor in chief Rachel Sapers - and as such has compiled information and contacts for those looking to take the first step toward commercial success. Musicians will find a database of contacts at record labels, writers will find pertinent questions to ask when looking for an agent, and artists get grant resource information. A chat area is intended to give users a place to swap tips.
"We created this site to help people interested in creative arts find out how to get involved, and how to get exposure on the Internet," says Sapers. "The biggest hurdle to success is finding useful information for the next step, or learning about the mistakes others have already made ... It's 'I've been through the ringer and this is what I did.'"
As far as exposure goes, musicians can audition to have their work showcased in the Open Mike area, where Plug-In is encouraging record-label agents to look for talent. In the real world, the Plug-In editors are planning a series of parties and gallery shows in New York City to showcase their online finds and encourage other emerging artists to come into the fold.
Plug-In isn't the first to see the need for these kinds of resources - sites like Taxi link musicians up with indie labels, IUMA offers how-to Q&A sessions for starting indie bands, countless forums exist for communication between aspiring writers, and artists have assembled collective online galleries to get their work noticed. So many are getting online, in fact, that talent sometimes is drowned in the noise.
Yet Patterson attests that record labels, at least, are looking online for talent, and are paying close attention to sites like Plug-In that compile the cream of the crop in one place. Says Sapers, "There are a lot of sites that have Joe Blow's stuff that you have to sift through.
"We aren't going to put up just anything," Sapers insists, adding that what they will have is "people you haven't heard of, but will be hearing of in the upcoming months."
