Just Plain Folks Music Organization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Just Plain Folks Music Organization (often referred to as Just Plain Folks, or simply JPF) is a website and community founded by Brian Austin Whitney with the intent of helping anyone involved in the music industry to network, share their experiences, build relationships, and grow. It is not exclusive to independent musicians or amateurs, as many members of the organization (such as Celldweller and They Might Be Giants) are highly successful. To this end, the community has local chapters in every state as well as over one hundred countries around the world.
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[edit] Membership
Just Plain Folks is home to over 40,100 members in 50 states and over 100 countries. As the organization open to anyone, the community enjoys a great variety of members, from hobbyist songwriters, to studio musicians, engineers, producers, publishers, and others. Level of professional exposure and experience is also variable; some members have considerable industry standing and have won Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, Academy Awards, and other similarly prestigious honors, while other members have have no commercially released work.
The organization sends out a monthly newsletter, "Just Plain Notes", to all members. Written and put together by founder Brian Austin Whitney, the newsletter includes a range of material from essays and editorials, to general music and JPF news, discounts or deals, announcements, success stories, quotes, and of course contributions by members.
[edit] Forums
The JPF website has a thriving message board with discussion topics ranging from lyrics, songwriting, and business affairs to technical issues, music theory, and more. As JPF has chapters in every state and around the world, there are discussion forums based on geographical location as well. Of the subforums available, the Lyric Feedback sections are most heavily used, with a total of three identical forums in place because of the massive traffic they receive on a daily basis.
[edit] Just Plain Folks Music Awards
Since 2000, Just Plain Folks has hosted a large-scale, non-profit music awards program that has been run five times to date; in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2006. In the latest iteration of the awards, over 350,000 songs and 25,500 albums were submitted for consideration. The awards are split into several general categories; the Founder's Awards, Song Awards, Album Awards, Video Awards, and Lyric Awards. These categories are then split further. The Song and Album Awards are given in over 70 genres, from more traditional ones such as Rock, Pop, and R&B, to less mainstream genres like Salsa, Surf, and Industrial. The awards are not necessarily run on a yearly basis due to the massive effort required to collect and evaluate all of the submissions, which is primarily volunteer-based. In 2006, the award ceremony was held on November 4th at the Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana, California.
Sponsors of the JPF Music Awards include companies such as CD Baby, Discmakers, and TAXI.
