JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum So Where Does Your Song Rank On Ourstage?

Hey Reggie, that was a great song! I'm sorry things didn't turn out as you had hoped for the Newport Folk Festival. (I think anybody would have made the same assumption without reading the fine print - that the channel winner performs...)

I brought this up once in the past, but nothing has come of it, and it's still irking me: Why is there no list of the artists who are actually winning the industry sponsored prizes? I'm certainly not trying to make any accusations, but I think it'd be nice if that information could be made public. Artists could potentially learn a lot from seeing who actually gets picked; it seems only logical.

Another reason I pose the question is that I had a bit of a strange experience back in March. As the Grand Prize winner that month, I was supposed to receive a wardrobe of clothing from a sponsor called BC Ethic. Well, I waited several weeks and hadn't heard a peep from them (or OurStage regarding them), so I decided to call the company. The people I spoke with hadn't even heard of OurStage, and directed me to an answering machine. I left a message and never heard back.

Furthermore, the BC Ethic website clearly states that it is a men's only clothing line, but there was no mention of gender in the prize description. I finally spoke with someone at OurStage, asking them to defer the prize to another channel winner that could actually benefit from a collection of grungy menswear... You know, the rocker type. But I also never heard from them about who they picked to receive it, and I don't know... Maybe it's just me, but you'd think that the recipient might have sent me a thank you for the donation, you know? I can't help but wonder if there ever was a recipient.

I know OurStage is a big site to run, but that's why it seems natural that someone keep this information up to date... and public! Both zircon (Andrew Aversa) and myself have had songs in the finals 3 or 4 times now each, and some of our friends (including JPF members) have as well. Yet none of us have been contacted about any of the numerous industry sponsored prizes, and there are so many of them... I think people are going to start getting suspicious after a point. (Not necessarily that OurStage is offering bogus prizes, but perhaps the sponsors aren't always following through?)

If Danny or anyone else from the OurStage staff is reading this, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on the matter!