Unsigned but not unrecognised

Surfing Google can bring up all kinds of wacky stuff. Naughty adverts and weight loss websites always seem to pop up no matter what you type in. Today though, the search engine actually brought up something useful: the People’s Music Awards.

Whilst browsing the net for information on music awards a news story popped up about this particular ceremony. It was something unfamiliar, something unknown and I became rather intrigued.

It turns out the People’s Music Awards is based around a website and it allows unsigned music artists and producers from all genres to upload their music. This is then heard and voted for by the public as well as top industry professionals.

The categories are specifically designed around different music genres: indie, rock, hip hop, funk, soul and of course pop. There’s also the familiar group of best female solo artist and best male solo artist.

The winner of each category receives a People’s Choice Music Award trophy and they are given the opportunity to appear on a compilation album.

The whole thing gives unsigned artists the opportunity to become recognised and to let people hear their work. It allows people with talent to showcase their efforts as well as awarding fresh new talent from every musical genre.

I think this music award ceremony is a unique and imaginative idea. The fact that it doesn’t focus on one particular genre and allows people both young and old to become acknowledged is great.

The ceremony may not be as accredited as others but it’s just as commendable. Allowing fresh talent from every genre to show what they’ve got through a music award ceremony is novel and it’s only a matter of time before it’s acknowledged more by the press. After all, the BRIT Awards probably started off exactly the same way.

NME Awards: booze or lose

The NME Awards are an annual music awards show run by the music magazine NME (New Musical Express). They represent a range of different genres: rock, pop, jazz, metal, hip hop. The main genre this year, however, seemed to be intoxication.

Looking at the NME website it seemed to me that a majority of people at the ceremony were more interested in alcohol than the actual awards themselves.

There are loads of pictures of people covered in booze doing all manner of outrageous stunts. What else would you expect from the cream of the music industry though?

It was one of the biggest nights on the music calendar, and with bands like Oasis and Kings of Leon taking away the Best Band and Best Album awards, as well as a cracking performance from The Cure, the ceremony proved it has bona fide class.

These particular awards represent my genres of music and my kind of people.

I don’t condemn their behaviour. I applaud it and only wish I’d been there.

Juno, Nickelback just isn't my cup of tea

The JUNO Awards is a prestigious music award ceremony that is hosted annually in Canada. It acknowledges the artistic talent and technical achievements of Canadian musical artists.

The winners are chosen by a panel of experts or by members of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Most categories, such as ‘Album of the Year’, are determined by the aforementioned panel of experts and this year they decided that hometown heroes, Nickelback, deserved the majority of the prestigious little statues.

They won the ‘JUNO Fan Choice Award’ and the ‘Group of the Year’. This is the fourth year in a row they have won the latter.

The band was thrilled with the result. Lead guitarist Ryan Peake said, and I quote: “This is why I didn’t get a real job. This is why I still don’t have a real job.”

Personally, I think he should go and get a real job. I’ve never been a fan of Nickelback. They don’t tempt me in the slightest and the fact that JUNO gave them two awards really puts it down in my estimations.

It is my honest opinion that every music award ceremony is different. I believe that every one celebrates a different music genre, and that different ceremonies appeal to different people because we all like different music.

However, Nickelback just do not tickle my musical taste buds at all. It is a band that, in their own words, “just wanna be big rock stars”, and quite frankly I’m surprised they have been around this long.

If the JUNO awards ceremony was representing musical persistence then I would understand why they awarded Nickelback. It can’t be denied that those boys are determined. But it represents musical artistic talent and achievements.

I don’t believe Nickelback have outstanding musical talent and, except for being recognised as a band that people hate to love, they haven’t made any exceptional achievements.

The JUNO Awards represent a range of musical genres so they should appeal to anyone, but if they think Nickelback is the best Canada have got to offer, they are of no interest to me.

Nickelback just isn’t my cup of tea and no amount of sugar is going to change that.

The BRITs represent pop; it doesn't make them a travesty

And the award goes to… Duffy! Duffy! And Duffy again! This was the scene presented to us at this year’s BRIT Awards ceremony. The Welsh songstress simply raked in award after award. But did she deserve it?

Flicking through a copy of last month’s NME, an article just so happened to catch my eye. It was an opinion piece by the resident ‘Mr Angry’, Mark Beaumont. He is a man who “spouts off and bangs on”.

With the title “Get on your BRITs? No way!”, Mr Beaumont expressed his views on the BRIT Awards ceremony. He thinks that it makes a mockery of the music industry, is based entirely on sales figures rather than talent, and is, quite frankly, a waste of time.

Everything he said was his opinion. A harsh one but an opinion nonetheless and, when I was reading it, I couldn’t help but think it was a really good example of my blog subject.

There are tons of different awards ceremonies all over the world. Some are highly publicised, like film and music awards, and some are generally unknown, such as the Industrial Awards, which celebrate the talents of people like joiners and plumbers.

Music awards ceremonies are one of the highly publicised ones and there are so many of them. There’s the aforementioned BRIT Awards, then there is the NME Awards, the Nationwide Mercury Prize, the Ivor Novellos, the American Grammy Award, the MTV Europe Music Awards, the list goes on.

The one thing they all have in common is that they celebrate musical talent. But each one is different, because none of them celebrate the same type of genre. This is why people tend to appreciate some awards ceremonies and not others.

Mr Beaumont, in his angry article, said: “The BRITs are an awards ceremony for people who don’t like music, voted for by people who don’t care about music”.

Personally, I think this was an unfair comment to make. Mr Beaumont is an NME writer so he wouldn’t be keen on the type of music that is honoured at the BRIT Awards. I mean, when was the last time you saw Leona Lewis or Take That on the cover of NME?

They are pop artists and the people that read NME don’t generally like that type of music. They are more partial to a bit of White Lies or Kings of Leon. There are people out there who like pop though and they are interested in those artists/bands. They even like the manufactured acts from TV contests like X Factor. These are the people who watch the BRITS and think it’s good.

Just because the music genre is different from that of the NME awards, doesn’t mean it is bad music. It’s just an alternative style.

Mr Beaumont was not forced to watch the BRITs. He didn’t need to read about them. If he didn’t like it, he should have just turned it off. Any normal person would have.