POPULAR MUSIC INTEREST GROUP BYLAWS

Approved December 15, 2019

ARTICLE I. NAME

The group will be known as the Popular Music Interest Group of the Society for Music Theory, abbreviated PMIG.

ARTICLE II. PURPOSE

The group will have three primary purposes: (1) to ensure academic recognition for popular music research; (2) to encourage more scholars of music theory to engage with vernacular repertoires; and (3) to encourage scholars of popular music to make effective use of musical analysis and theory.

ARTICLE III. MEMBERSHIP

For privacy reasons, no official membership list will be kept. In lieu of this, the number of attendees at Interest Group meetings will be recorded every year. Any interested person may use the Interest Group resources.

Quorum will be defined as equalling 5% of the average membership of the prior two meetings.

ARTICLE IV. OFFICERS

There will be five positions: the Chair, the Outgoing Chair, the Secretary, the Webmaster, and the Outgoing Webmaster.

1. The Chair(s) will be responsible for the management of the Interest Group, including submitting reports to the Society for Music Theory’s board, submitting reports to the Society for Music Theory’s newsletter, soliciting nominations for the Interest Group’s annual publication awards, organizing the Interest Group business meeting, chairing the Publication Awards committee, and curating a session at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Music Theory.
2. The Secretary will record the minutes of the meeting and assist the Chair as needed.
3. The Webmaster(s) will be responsible for establishing and maintaining the Interest Group’s web presence.

Terms of Office:

1. Officers will serve two-year terms.
2. Terms begin on January 1 after elections, and continue to December 31 two years later.
3. Upon completing their two years, Chairs and Webmasters will remain officers for a third year, serving as Outgoing Chair or Outgoing Webmaster. The purpose of the Outgoing role is to support the new officer. If officers are re-elected to another term, there will be no Outgoing officer.

Selection of Officers: The Chair will solicit nominations for officers at least two weeks before the beginning of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Music Theory. The Chair will close the nomination period during the Interest Group’s business meeting and conduct the election via online ballot. Voting will conclude when 5% of the membership has voted or at an appointed deadline, whichever date comes later.

ARTICLE V: ACTIVITIES

Business Meeting: The Chair will schedule a business meeting during the Annual Meeting of the Society for Music Theory. At the business meeting, the Chair will update membership on the recent activities of the group and propose initiatives for the upcoming year.

Program: The Chair will organize one program of interest at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Music Theory. The program may take the form of a paper session, workshop, interview, or any other format, at the discretion of the Chair. If the program consists of papers from more than three speakers, the papers should be solicited with a general Call for Papers and evaluated anonymously by an Ad-Hoc Program Committee.

ARTICLE VI: AWARDS

The Chair will solicit nominations for the Interest Group’s two publication awards annually. Anyone may nominate a publication for an award. An Award Committee, consisting of the PMIG chair, the previous year’s winners of each award, and a volunteer scholar appointed by the PMIG chair (if necessary), will determine the awards.

Prizes for both awards will be given at the Society for Music Theory conference during the business meeting portion of the PMIG Interest Group session.

Eligibility:

1. Any work published within three years of the application deadline is eligible.
2. Forthcoming works are not eligible.
3. Previous award recipients are ineligible to compete for the same award in subsequent years.
4. The Chair forfeits their eligibility for awards during their committee tenure.

ARTICLE VII: AMENDMENTS

Amendments to these bylaws may be proposed to the Chair by any member at least two weeks before the beginning of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Music Theory. Proposed amendments will be placed on the agenda of the business meeting, discussed by the membership, allowed the opportunity for revision, and then taken up for a vote via online ballot. All amendments must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the votes. Voting will conclude when 5% of the membership has voted or at an appointed deadline, whichever date comes later.