I think the reasons the Tampa Chapter has been such a big success are:

1) Al Alvarez is a very serious and dedicated coordinator. He lives this.

2) There really isn't any other similar way for musicians in the Tampa area to meet, so it has fulfilled a definite need. The only other thing close is the local NSAI chapter. But its focus is entirely on song critiques for serious songwriters who are willing to fork up $150/yr (I am an NSAI member, also, as are about 20% of our Tampa JPF members). Places like NY, Nashville, LA probably have a lot of other things happening which fulfill the needs for the local musician that the Tampa Chapter is providing.

3) We in the Tampa Bay area realize that we are all in this together, and what helps one of us often helps all of us. Most everyone who has been in the chapter for more than a half a year has seen dramatic advancement towards their musical goals. We have all learned how helping each other often helps ourselves. So we are not so competitive with each other as possibly some other areas.

That said, we still could do better. We have vast collective knowledge about much in the music industry. We need to be better at sharing this knowledge with each other so each of us isn't reinventing the wheel.

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Stone Marmot
retro pop-rock original music
www.stonemarmot.com
www.soundclick.com/stonemarmot.htm
www.myspace.com/stonemarmot

https://www.stonemarmot.com
Stone Marmot
Nouveau retro pop-rock music
Listen to our latest song “I Sing Along” at:
https://soundcloud.com/stone-marmot/i-sing-along
and its music video at