Just Play

What Just Play does

Just Play is a non-profit music documentary project founded in 2013 in New York City by bassist and composer Matt Geraghty. It operates as an itinerant musical documentary series that travels internationally to discover emerging artists and hidden cultural treasures across the Americas, with a particular focus on women artists from the African diaspora. The organization functions as a hybrid creative-nonprofit, producing documentary films released on Vimeo On Demand and companion music albums distributed on Spotify, supplemented by donations processed through the Fractured Atlas fundraising platform.

The company's output to date consists of three major documentary-album projects: 'Trade Winds Cuba' (2014-2015), featuring over 100 artists from Havana; 'The Warrior Women of Afro-Peruvian Music' (2018), a Latin Grammy nominated project featuring nine Afro-Peruvian women musicians; and 'Guerreras Puertorriqueñas' (2020-2021), filmed in Puerto Rico. Core production is handled by a small team of approximately 10 people, including regional producers Araceli Poma and Javier Lazo in Peru, music producer Zé Luis Oliveira, and filmmaker Daniel Thissen. Partnerships with the Ricky Martin Foundation, Taller Comunidad La Goyco, and JetBlue support each project's talent scouting, recording locations, and logistics.

Just Play's revenue model combines one-time documentary license sales via Vimeo On Demand, recurring per-stream royalties from Spotify, and donations through Fractured Atlas. The company has stated intent to expand into Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Senegal, Mali, Benin, and Cabo Verde. Its key differentiator is the rare combination of cross-cultural musical collaboration, professional production quality, and a mission-driven focus on artists facing marginalization, validated by a 2020 Latin Grammy nomination and Grammy consideration rounds in 2015 and 2019.

Name

Just Play

Website

https://justplay.world

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Just Play is a non-profit music documentary project founded in 2013 that produces documentary films and albums celebrating women artists from the African diaspora across the Americas, distributing via Vimeo On Demand and Spotify while raising donations through Fractured Atlas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Documentary Music Production

NAICS

Record Production and Distribution (512250), Sound Recording Studios (51224)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Distribution (7822)

akta.pro primary industry

Travel & Adventure Documentaries (MPADADAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Music Production & Composition (Songwriting, Recording, DJing) (EDAMAAAF)

Keywords

• Documentary music production
• Musical documentary series
• Cultural heritage films
• Afro-diaspora music
• Music album distribution

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Documentary Sales: Documentary films released on Vimeo On Demand platform for direct consumer purchase and viewing
2. Music Streaming/Royalties: Album releases on Spotify and other streaming platforms generating per-stream revenue and increasing artist visibility
3. Donations and Fundraising: Accepts donations through Fractured Atlas fundraising platform to support documentary production and artist collaborations

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Just Play is an itinerant musical documentary series that travels internationally to produce collaborative documentary films and companion music albums featuring emerging artists and hidden cultural treasures — primarily women artists from the African diaspora in the Americas. Documentaries are distributed to consumers through Vimeo On Demand and albums through Spotify, with additional support from donations.

Product overview

JUST PLAY is a documentary and music production platform that creates documentary series and albums celebrating musicians across the Americas and beyond. The portfolio includes: 'The Warrior Women of Afro-Peruvian Music' (2018/2020) - a Latin Grammy-nominated documentary and album featuring Afro-Peruvian women artists; 'Guerreras Puertorriqueñas' (2021) - a documentary spotlighting women artists from Puerto Rico; and 'Trade Winds Cuba' (2014/2015) - an album and documentary featuring Cuban artists. All projects are produced by Matt Geraghty with local production teams and result in both documentary films and companion music albums.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Guerreras Puertorriqueñas: Documentary featuring women artists from Puerto Rico capturing resilience in face of pandemic, natural disasters and political upheaval
• The Warrior Women of Afro-Peruvian Music
• Trade Winds Cuba

Products and services

• JUST PLAY Documentary Series Itinerant musical documentary series that discovers emerging artists and hidden cultural treasures in the Americas, producing both documentary films and companion music albums for global audiences.
• Trade Winds Cuba Album and documentary featuring over 100 emblematic artists from Havana, Cuba, created as part of the Just Play series traveling from NYC to New Orleans, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Havana.
• The Warrior Women of Afro-Peruvian Music Documentary and album project celebrating Afro-Peruvian women artists, addressing themes of racism, sexism, and marginalization in Peruvian society. Features 9 singers and percussionists including Charo Goyoneche, Sofía Buitrón, Rosa Guzmán, Maricarmen Padilla, Kata Robles, Araceli Poma, Gisella Giurfa, Milagros Guerrero, and Victoria Villalobos.
• Guerreras Puertorriqueñas Documentary series featuring women artists from Puerto Rico, capturing their music, stories, and spirit of resilience in the face of natural disasters, political upheaval, and a pandemic.

Quantifiable outcome

• Latin Grammy nomination in 2020 for Best Long Form Music Video
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• JetBlueminorOthers · 1 January 2021JetBlue was thanked in the credits for the Guerreras Puertorriqueñas documentary, likely for transportation support.
• Ricky Martin FoundationcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2020Ricky Martin Foundation partnered with Just Play for talent scouting in Puerto Rico for the Guerreras Puertorriqueñas documentary. Orlando Morales from the foundation was credited for talent scouting, and the foundation's facilities were used for recording traditional Bomba songs featuring Hilda Pizarro & Grupo Folclórico Belelé.
• Taller Comunidad La GoycocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Recording location for traditional Bomba song 'Palo 'E Cobé' featuring Nelie Lebrón and artists. The community workshop served as a key filming and recording location for the documentary.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• The FADER: Independent music media brand combining editorial, video documentaries and artist features; partial overlap with Just Play's documentary-plus-artist-visibility model, especially for diaspora and Latin music coverage.

Direct peers

• Okayafrica: Media platform dedicated to African and African-diaspora music and culture, with editorial content, artist showcases and curated releases that closely parallel Just Play's Afro-diaspora artist-visibility mission.
• ARC Music: World music label producing curated albums and supporting documentary/liner-note storytelling for traditional and diaspora artists, comparable in catalog-style output to Just Play's Trade Winds Cuba and Afro-Peruvian releases.
• Quilombo Records: Afro-Latin music label focused on Black music traditions across Latin America, with documentary-adjacent artist storytelling that overlaps with Just Play's Afro-Peruvian and Puerto Rican content focus.
• Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: Non-profit cultural-heritage music label that produces and distributes recordings and documentary-style releases spotlighting traditional and underrepresented musicians globally, mirroring Just Play's mission-driven content and catalog model.
• Afropop Worldwide: Long-running radio and multimedia program documenting African and African-diaspora music globally, with original field recordings and artist profiles analogous to Just Play's documentary-driven artist discovery.
• Songlines Music Magazine: World and roots music publication covering traditional and diaspora artists with editorial depth and curated album coverage; comparable audience and curatorial function to Just Play's documentary releases.

Broad incumbents

• National Geographic Music & Documentary: Broad incumbent producing large-scale music and culture documentaries across the Americas with deeper distribution and budgets; competes for the same audience attention but at vastly greater scale than Just Play.
• PBS (American Masters / Soundbreaking): Public broadcaster with established music documentary franchises and awards-track record that competes for prestige, festival slots and foundation funding in the same cultural-heritage documentary space.

Regional players

• Rumbo Records / Candela Records: Latin/Afro-Latin focused independent label with deep ties to Afro-Peruvian and Caribbean music scenes, comparable catalog scope to Just Play's Peru and Puerto Rico projects though operating primarily through label rather than documentary releases.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/JUSTPLAYGLOBAL
• Instagraminstagram.com/JUSTPLAYGLOBAL
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/justplayglobal

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Just Play