@ everybody
Please take a moment to breathe in, out, feel the calm come.
There is no worry or stress needed here.
Have a big loving hug and feel the warmth.
Let it out ā¦ aaaahhhhhhh.
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The Class of 2023 project is being run with Musopia (the App development company). It is they who have responsibility for setting up the landing page, the benefits, and all else.
Joining the Class of 2023 is free but Musopia will be active in seeking to promote sales via emails and initiatives to encourage people to download and use the App once they subscribe to the program. They are running paid acquisitions on social media, too.
The focus truly is different from the Community. It is a marketing initiative to attract new students to the App. One of the reasons why this is an external group is to give Musopia a chance to do some promotional actions. Justin categorically does not want the Community to bothered by that.
For transparency, it is part of a business model and a means to generate revenue. Justin gives away most of his work for free, but as a business he does need to pay the (high!) bills. He has a team of staff plus many running costs too. Growing the app via marketing campaigns is an essential part of the balance that allows him to offer free content.
Musopia will be responsible for supporting the associated Facebook group. That group is a completely separate project from the Community. A main reason for the separation is the fact that Class of 2023 is a project focused on the App in which Musopia will be doing most of the work. Another factor is the need for a place where easy moderation and approval of participants is possible - someone from Musopia take that role. Plus, those involved can post videos without the need for an external service. Facebook offers those facilities.
There was a decision to deliberately steer away from the Community here. The Community is THE community. Justin and Laryne did not want to cause any upset (although unfortunately that has not quite worked out as hoped ā a lesson to be learned) nor to give the moderators a lot more work.
RE: the promotional discounts. As has been seen before with App discounts, they are, unfortunately, just for new users. However, people with an active App subscription will have the other benefits of the Class of 2023. This will be explained when signing up on the landing page via a Welcome email that Musopia will send.
Please be assured that this Facebook group created within a marketing campaign will NOT replace or interfere with the Community.
The Community is SAFE and VITAL and it will never be replaced with a social media platform.
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@Richard_close2u See my post above, it is all a matter of communicationā¦
I really understand, that itās hard with limited personnel resources, but see it positiveā¦people are careful about this communityā¦thatās a really good sign 
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An opportunity for Musopia to be actively involved in a learning environment with the App being used as the learning tool can only lead to improvements in the App. And just think of all those graduates of 2023 supporting the community with helping to answer Grade 1 and App related questions.
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Addendum.
On behalf of several people I offer apologies.
We were scheduled to have a team meeting late last week and this project was one of the top agenda items. Unfortunately circumstances forced a late cancellation so the discussion didnāt take place - hence @LievenDV @DavidP and I were somewhat in the dark. @larynejg had already finalised and scheduled the release of the newsletter too meaning the announcement came out and we werenāt here to offer further information.
The points made about communications, heads-up announcements etc. of courses and resources and things pending are all good feedback and Iām sure will inform future planning.
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Wow, this was answered last night before I went to bed, itās for complete newbies and that should have been and end to it. Instead since then thereās been 30+ more opinions about money, about facebook, about how Justin should do business etc. Just go and play your guitar, this isnāt for you!!! Time to close this thread I think!
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No one told me we had a communication problem. 
Thank you for the clarity Mr C ( @Richard_close2u ) amazing how a little back story here can clarify matters. Like you say
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Matthew @mattswain
I agree with you and as I created the topic it is time to draw it to a close especially since recent posts by Richard @Richard_close2u and Laryne have clarified things.
In my defence none of this was clear when I created the topic on Friday when I received the Newsletter.
Michael 
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No defence necessary, Michael. It is a positive to have read something in the Newsletter, had some thoughts, and come to the Community to ask questions and find out more (rather than jumping to some erroneous conclusions, then getting upset, and that colouring other thinbgs down the line).
Out of my own curiousity, did you click the link and visit the Join UP page?
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David @DavidP
Thanks for your comments on āmy defenceā
You asked about the link, yes I clicked the link in the newsletter to see what it was about and even the āapplyā link but I didnāt fill anything in.
Happily I am well into grade 2 but if this had come out at the beginning of last year when I started I would have definitely joined the class of 22.
Michael
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Yeah sorry we couldnāt update yāall sooner and thanks for your quick understanding 
We missed some info but @larynejg was fast to brief us and you.
Sheās such a wonderful team member; on top of everything actually.
(honestly, I think she is some kind of octopus, handling 8 things at the same time, all the time)
Itās an interesting experiment that reaches a different audience via different channels. In the end we learn and we apply learning from one method to the other (or we learn specifcially not to do that ) | Iām curious what it will bring as I am pro-experimenting and āfailing forwardā.
Also, I think it will have very little impact on our Community here and eventually weāll probably welcome some people of 'The Class of 2023" here as well!
Thanks for being so involved yāall!
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I received an email about joining the Justin guitar class 2023. It list extra content like the strumming course if you subscribe to the app. I am currently subscribed to the app. Do I need to do anything to receive the extra content? Is this a brand new app or the same current one. Currently my subscription expires in March. The cost was/is $51.99. When I followed the link to sign up it list the price as $89.99 and $62.99 with the discount. Do I need to sign up again or will my subscription just renew and what will be the price. Sorry for all the questions but the process and emails for this are a little confusing. Thanks
Itās the same App.
R.
Iām a bit ambivalent either way really. The FB focused limited access group is starting to become pretty common. Iām a big FB user as most of my interest groups (music and running) have moved in that direction. Indeed all of the running races and athletics groups are advertised and run on there so difficult to get involved without using it. Similarly most of the gigs are advertised on there.
Iāve seen it quite a bit on fitness/running sites where they offer a focused course for x number of weeks and create a separate FB group just for those people. I suspect Justin is trialling a similar approach and will then - via the FB group - look to extol the virtues of joining the broader community. If you think about it it deals with some of newbie posts that we get repeated time and time again in the community ALTHOUGH it does mean less people to answer those (on the FB group I meanā¦all those questions being funnelled in BUT whoās going to answer them?).
The community is perfectly busy enough without worrying too much about it.
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Chris, to receive the benefits related to the Class of 2023 programme you need to complete and submit the form on the Join-up page. I assume you received that link in your email or would find it in the latest Newsletter from Justin.
I am sure that will clarify details related to the App subscription. Class of 2023 is a partnership between Musopia (the app provider) and JustinGuitar.
Hello and welcome to the community.
Please read Laryneās post carefully as it applies to you I think.
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What is this email and facebook group? I didnāt get any email but am really interested in this.
Is it possible to send me a link to the class of 2023? I seem to have not gotten the mail but am really interested in the facebook group etc.