I HAVE DEVELOPED DOUBTS ABOUT THE IBMA

Last week I did my duty and voted on the nominations ballots for this fall IBMA World of Bluegrass. Voters had to vote for exactly five, no more no less, in the various categories. You have a time limit to do this or you will be "timed out" and have to log in another time. That can be a bit of a pain, but nonetheless I did my duty as a good professional member of the IBMA. Then two days later I get an e-mail from them saying they fu'd up and left one dobro player off the ballot and I would have to vote again. I thought BS! I am not going through that again. The IBMA has gone through a lot of changes in recent years. A long time CEO resigned and was replaced. It was located in Nashville and now some of it's staff works out of HAWAII! The question remains is there any reason why any local BG picker would want to belong to the IBMA? My feeling is simply NO! Don't waste your money. Just support your local BG group and leave it at that. Years ago I taught history classes in MT high schools. Kids learned about the formation of trade guilds in the middle ages which eventually evolved into the unions of today. Not necessarily a labor union, but that is what the IBMA exists for, a trade association for bands and musicians to connect with each other and with promoters of BG events. That means the PROFESSIONAL bluegrass bands who are in it for the dollars not just the local play for fun bands. I seriously doubt that I will continue my IBMA membership next year.