Here’s how I feel about this year’s Grammys. They were fine. Not great, not horrible. They were… the Grammys.
Was Kendrick robbed? Of course. But something you start to notice in any awards show, is that once momentum starts in one direction, it rarely gets derailed. About halfway through the show, I had to remind myself of who actually does the voting. Thousands of people, most of whom have probably never listened to Kendrick or Jay Z. Or maybe they tried and they couldn’t get past the first track. Because those are challenging albums. The kind we need.
Meanwhile the politics of who gets to perform, why certain performers play the songs they do, and how they do it, can also seem confusing to many. But much like I remind myself who votes, I also have to remind myself that this is a television show… on CBS. It’s meant to reach the masses, not the devoted music fans.
So, again, the show was fine. It was the Grammys. I thought there were some fantastic performances along with some really disappointing moments. Like every year.
Today my friend Bob Lefsetz wrote a very poignant email that I think transcends the Grammys. He is reminding us that music is changing. The way it is made and the way it is consumed. It wasn’t that long ago that we bought an album for $15 and cherished it. Today music is basically free. You have nearly every album or song ever made at your fingertips for $10 a month. As a result, people are listening differently. But they are listening.
Tomorrow will be different too. Changes will come. And we have to roll with those changes. Just because things are the way they are doesn’t mean we have to adhere to them. Nothing groundbreaking about this statement. But if the Grammys are not good, then we don’t have to watch. And if the song isn’t good, we push the forward button to the next one. If we don’t like something, we can change it.
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