At least the Grammys are smart enough to get an outsider, as opposed to the Oscars, which constantly use someone from their industry with ties to the past and no skill putting on a TV show. But Ben Winston can't control the voting.
Everyone agrees that last night's Grammy telecast was a vast improvement over those of the previous decade plus. First and foremost it was decided to wipe the detritus of the past and focus on the new. But that just made it more confusing for the aged Grammy viewers unfamiliar with the acts and their music, as for the youngsters, who in hell could sit through all those commercials? I guess they're going to run this paradigm into the ground. In a world where you can do your best to never see a TV commercial to watch the Grammys in real time is torture.
Not that I watched much.
I wasn't going to watch any at all. But my friends had it on and I watched forty minutes, a good chunk of which was commercials, and the final ten minutes, wanting to say good night to said friends.
And I won't give a whole review of the show, the little I saw or that which I read about, because I really don't care. There's a whole publicity industry built around these awards shows and I'd like to know who eats up this information. Hype does not pay the dividends it used to. And as far as reviews, if you saw it you don't need to read about it, and those who didn't see it don't care.
As for a memorable moment, I haven't heard about one yet.
But what gets me to put fingers to keyboard is the Jon Batiste victory for Album of the Year. It undercuts all credibility for the Grammys. The dude gave a great speech, talking about how competition in the arts is not a factor, but reaching those who need the music is, however...HOW IN THE HELL DID THIS GUY WIN?
It's not like the Oscars, lauding a good picture that no one has seen. It's out of touch members voting for their personal preferences, screw the rest of the world. And I wouldn't care, except the Grammys keep telling us how hip and on point they are, in bed with the labels to put on a happening TV show and then...
Yes, are the big Grammy awards for popular music, or are they an inside baseball affair for the voters?
Have you heard Batiste's album? I doubt it, it barely made a dent on the charts, and two songs have nine million streams on Spotify, but six of them don't even break seven figures (which is a million, for the math challenged). And don't think a million streams is much, a Top 50 song can easily do a million streams A DAY!
But it's hard for oldsters to comprehend the new metrics. A million used to be a lot. A million albums, wow, you're platinum! But the metric has changed from sales to plays and those who've lost in the process, because their music is not listened to that much, can't stop complaining. It is commerce, not art. It is a business, it's not a charity. And if you don't put up the numbers you make less. However, in today's internet world there are many possible streams of revenue, but chances are if you have low streams you have little business elsewhere. Why does everybody continue to believe they deserve to be monetarily successful in the arts? Study the bands from the heyday of the classic rock era, in many cases they didn't give up their day jobs until after their first tour after their album was a hit. But today, if you decide you're an artist, you believe you deserve to be able to make a living by only playing your music. Insane. Then again, in today's world no one can handle the truth. In a world where truth is fungible anyway. Conventional wisdom is Spotify is the devil stealing from artists and Ticketmaster keeps all the fees and the artists have been screwed. Today it's all about emotions, feel, and that does not mean truth, no way, and it's not only in music.
So, by awarding Jon Batiste the big trophy, the Grammys have undercut their credibility.
Credibility. That used to be key before it all became about money. Yes, Reagan legitimized greed, the boomers sold out and ever since it's been about the gross. And the oldsters in control of the levers of power keep telling us young people don't care about sponsorships or endorsements when the truth is they just want their percentage thereof. Credibility as a concept never dies, it's just that few people embrace it. We are looking for credibility, especially in the arts, where honesty prevails, a cousin of credibility. Sans credibility you've got disposability, like so much of today's music, just like the Grammy telecast itself. One great credible thing can survive the ages, trump a ton of hype and endorsement, but it's hard to deliver honesty from the heart and stand up to the man, the system.
The system. I saw Harvey Mason Jr.'s speech. At least they pre-taped it, so there would be no faux pas. And the roundup of musicians saying they were the Academy was well done. But then you give the big award to Jon Batiste? It makes me think the Academy is made up of the people testifying who've never made it, and probably never will. The Motion Picture Academy is exclusive, not anybody can join, they still haven't let Rob Schneider in. But the majority of the Recording Academy is people who've never had a hit, who've never had commercial success, and that's fine, but should they be voting for consumer-facing awards?
Of course not.
The public is led to believe these are the best records out there. They know there are vagaries in the system, but when something totally left field wins a big award, they scratch their heads and move on.
Which is exactly what is happening to the baby boomers. Once again, give Ben Winston credit for breaking with the classic rock past. But the business is still run by boomers, and they've got to go. Gen-X'ers too. Everybody who remembers music before the internet is tied to a paradigm that no longer exists. Metrics that no longer make sense.
Which comes down to the Grammy telecast itself. A variety show? Network TV will air anything that garners eyeballs, and they gave up on variety shows decades ago. Yes, we used to huddle around "Ed Sullivan" on Sunday nights, but that was just to see the Beatles, it was an interminable wait to get to the musical acts, and although we can remember Topo Gigio, we would have rather just seen the five minutes we were interested in. Which is what we have today, hallelujah!
But those on the selling side hate this. Listen to my album! Yeah, back when music was scarce and albums expensive you'd get free product and take a chance. But in today's overwhelming world you've got to deserve the time, you've got to weasel your way into the brain of the consumer and that's the hardest thing to do. But somehow in music we should lay down our defenses, give time to those who call themselves "artists."
And now I realize I'm going off the rails. But I keep getting e-mail saying I should support artists, that I should be positive. There's a whole industry for that, which will beef up your false hopes. End result? NOTHING! It's like giving a kid a trophy for competing. You don't expect to see that kid in the big leagues, he finds another line of work, only a very few can make it to the show. Ever been involved in athletics? You're always fearful of the cut. Your name is not on the list. Even in the NFL. But in music everybody should play?
I guess they do, because these are the people voting for the Grammy awards. The public is smarter than that. The public can see through the ruse. The public knows to ignore the Grammy anointments, because one false move can undercut the credibility of the entire operation.
I'll close with a story told to me by Tony Wilson, a name well-known in Britain but not in America. Tony was an Oxbridge educated man who was a TV presenter and a record company ruler. He was the majordomo of Factory Records, in Manchester, the epicenter of dance music. They even made a movie about him, "24 Hour Party People," watch it, it's very good.
But forget the bio. Before he got involved in the music scene, not long after school, Tony was the weekend news presenter for ITV. Tony says that a researcher gave him inaccurate football scores, whatever the case, Tony went on TV and delivered inaccurate sports scores. The next morning his boss came in and was this close to firing him, and after giving Tony another opportunity he said "If we can't get it right on the sports scores, people won't trust us on the big issues."
Bingo. That's what the Album of the Year award to Jon Batiste represents.
Case closed.
(However, the Grammys will self-congratulate and nothing will change. Old boy networks never die, they just fade into the sunset until no one can see them anymore.)
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