Like President Trump, Neil Portnow and too many other men refuse to admit without equivocation that they are part of the gender problem. Until that changes, not much else can. Is 12%, for example, or even 17% representation for women in music so much better than 9% that it deserves…
Category archives: Conventions & Awards
Metallica, Afghanistan National Institute Of Music Named Polar Music Prize Laureates 2018
Metallica and the Afghanistan National Institute of Music along with its founder and director and Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, have been selected laureates for the 2018 Polar Music Prize. Likening Metallica to composers such as Wagner and Tchaikovsky, the band was recognized for the visceral speed and physicality of their music,…
Bandsintown Produces SXSW’s First Data Driven Showcase
[UPDATED] Concert discovery platform Bandsintown is producing its first ever showcase at SXSW. Dubbed the music conference’s first ever data driven showcase, participating artists were chosen from Bandintown’s Big Break program made up of touring acts that have grown from 100 to 5,000 or more followers on the platform in…
Arcade Fire Leads 2018 Juno Nominees [FULL LIST]
The Arcade Fire, Jessie Reyez and the late Gordon Downie were among the top nominees for the 2018 Juno Awards. Arcade Fire landed nods for album of the year and alternative album of the year for “Everything Now” and also picked up nominations for Single of the Year, Group of…
13K+ Sign Petition To Oust Recording Academy Head
A petition demanding the resignation of long time Recording Academy president Neil Portnow has now surpassed its original goal of 10,000 signatures. By mid-day on Friday, 13,467 had signed demanding the exec exit after his tone deaf comments that women should "step up" if they want to end systemic gender…
Is Rock On Music’s Endangered List?
In the wake the recent Grammy Awards, Fred Jacobs bemoans the decline of rock music as a genre, something which has been on a steady downhill slide for years, but also carries with it the potential for a resurgence. _______________________ Guest post by Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media Maybe the…
Stars Help Petition To Oust Recording Academy President Collect Over 12,922 Signatures [UPDATED]
UPDATE 2: A petition demanding the ouster of Recording Academy president Neil Portnow surpassed its original goal of 10,000 signatures overnight. By Thursday afternoon 12,992 had signed demanding the exec exit after comments that women need to "step up" if they want to end systemic gender discrimination in music. _______________________________________…
Indie Labels Scored 40% Of Grammy 2018 Wins
Independent labels won 36 out of the 84 or just over 40% of Grammys handed out this week. A2IM member labels 4AD (Beggars Group), ATO, Big Machine, Concord Music Group, Compass, eOne, Mack Avenue, Motema, Naxos, Sub Pop and Thirty Tigers all scored wins. 10 of the 36 winners were…
Grammy Awards 2018 Ratings Tumble
The 2018 Grammy Awards delivered a 5.9 rating among adults 18-49 with 19.81 million total viewers. That’s down 24% in both adults 18-49 and overall viewers vs. last year. It’s the lowest 18-49 rating the Grammys have ever recorded and the least watche…
‘Women Need To Step Up’ says Grammy Chief In Tone Deaf Response To Music’s Gender Gap
[UPDATED] Only one women, Best New Artist Alessia Cara, took the stage to pick up an award during the televised portion of the 60th annual Grammy Awards. Overall, just 9.3% of total Grammy nominees 2013 – 2018 were woman. But in comments to Variety, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow seemed…