Steve Stoute’s Letter
Wasn’t this the guy who was beaten up by Puffy’s people?
Funny thing about this story. It was born in the "New York Times", but it lives online. I got two e-mails from those who saw it in the newspaper, but now my inbox is filling up with messages from people who found out about it digitally. Without the Internet, this is a non-story. With online discussion, Steve Stoute’s 40k ad just might make a difference.
You’ve got to start with Neil Portnow.
1. Why doe he make so much money?
2. Why did he abandon a paid-for building in favor of too much space that costs a fortune a mile away? (While the original building remains vacant.)
3. What is the relationship with Portnow/NARAS and AEG? Why do the Grammys never go to New York anymore? And isn’t it interesting that the Grammy Museum is part of L.A. Live. With a terrible side entrance to boot. Was negotiating power that poor?
4. Why has membership dropped by half since Neil took over?
5. Why has the Grammy Foundation cut half its budget?
6. Who produces the show, Ken Ehrlich or NARAS? It appears that Ehrlich, a contractor with no official position, is wagging the dog. Furthermore, isn’t it interesting that Ehrlich’s company is owned by AEG, as is that of the producer of the MusiCares gala.
I don’t think only the acts should revolt, but the entire NARAS membership. What we’ve got here is a self-interested dictator in bed with corporations. This helps music how?
Don’t get caught up in Stoute’s anger about who won what award.
Do get pissed off that popular acts are being utilized for ratings when it’s clear they are not going to win.
Where was that segment where the two accountants come out on stage and say that the voting was confidential? Obviously NARAS knew Arcade Fire was gonna win. Otherwise, why would they close the show? And they got two numbers. If there was gonna be extra time couldn’t there have been another performer, or one of those legendary Grammy love-ins featuring Stevie Wonder and a whole host of legends, maybe playing a classic with Arcade Fire?
Acts want exposure, that’s why they do the show. If it was about awards, they’d perform the tracks that got them nominated, not their new singles. It’s a promotional vehicle.
As long as you’ve got acts lining up for that big audience, you’re gonna get no change. There’s too much in it for them. Then again, if the superstars could band together and not appear. Then again, superstars are always afraid the end is near and so many "superstars" in the music industry were just minted yesterday and might be gone tomorrow.
No, what has to happen is Steve Stoute has to stage a coup. Not only take out an ad in the newspaper, but round up his brethren and steal the entire organization. It’s not that hard. If you care.
Not that I really do.
NARAS is beholden to the dying record labels. Without the TV show it’s nothing. It’s positively last century.
Could the awards be made more relevant?
OF COURSE!
By eliminating almost all of them. Or breaking the ceremony into two events six months apart. Fewer than ten awards in one, all the rest in the other, maybe Webcast, with performances. That’s the place for Esperanza Spalding. Where people can actually see her play and discover why she’s so great.
So when do you stop being a new artist again? Is it record sales or visibility or are there no real criteria and if Widespread Panic, an act that’s been touring for decades, finally has a Top Forty hit they can win Best New Artist too?
And how can you adjust the nominations for "credibility", to make sure Jethro Tull doesn’t win the heavy metal award, and have us believe in them? Furthermore, how can you vote if you’ve never heard the music? We live in a digital age. It would be easy to make sure the membership listens online in order to cast its vote.
Things are so rotten in Denmark that the King is tottering.
Now is the time to put the stake through his heart.
