The Manager’s Corner – March 2013

Jenn Cohen | March 1, 2013 | 1 Comment

by Chris Daniels

I’ve managed my own band since the 1980s and despite the amazing change in technology, success in the music business is built around four tried and true elements: great music, really hard work, and timing (often mistaken for luck). The other key element is getting the help you need to make that luck happen. These days that help is everywhere. The book I wrote for my UCD class on artist management is called “DIY: You’re Not in it Alone” and that is exactly what you need to understand.

The Grammy Awards, and you say, “I don’t give a crap about that, they have nothing to do with music!” Well, let me encourage all those DIY artists out there to take another look; not at the TV show, but at what it’s all about. First and foremost, the TV show is about performance – big ass extravaganzas – the Grammy’s are an award for making a great recording, a killer record, having nothing to do with the TV stage show.

This year, I was a co-nominee for my songwriting and as a featured soloist with Jazz greats Mark Oblinger, Al Jarreau, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Hubert Laws and many more for a “Best Children’s Album” nomination. It was a “bucket list” thing for me but it turned into a huge learning experience. We did not win and neither did any other Colorado nominee, including our friends in the Lumineers. Does that matter to me? In my humble opinion no, because I listened to the other nominees for “Children’s Album” and honestly we had the best “recording.” But that is not how it works.

So let me give you a little tour through what I think is important to understand about the Grammys using a different category, “Best Americana Album” that both my solo record Better Days and the Lumineers were in, (the Lumineers were also up for “Best New Artist”).

Americana is a very big category. There were 123 albums that got nominated in the 1^st round (not an actual Grammy nomination), out of somewhere around 8,000 Americana releases in 2012. Other artists in that category that did not make it to an actual nomination included Bob Dylan, John Hiatt, Dwight Yokum, to name a few. The Grammy voters voted on the 123 in October; these are musicians, producers, and engineers etc. who have all worked on major releases of some kind or other–major label or independent. Five actual Grammy nominees were chosen and they included our buddies the Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, the Avett Brothers, John Fullbright, and Bonnie Raitt. That means that Bob Dylan and John Hiatt and all those others did not get nominated.

Bonnie Raitt won. I hear you saying, “See, it’s all about the old fogies.” That had something to do with it, but the fact is it was the best recording of those who were nominated (my humble opinion), and it had a great deal to do with a long career and this album as a capstone.

So what is the take away for DIY artists like myself, or the Lumineers? (A) For god’s sake be yourself. Don’t try and be the next Mumford & Sons because there is a band already doing that. (B) There is a lot that the Grammys can teach all of us.

First, new music IS getting recognized. Except for Raitt, all the others in the Americana category were new young bands. Second, young independent artists ARE winning. Check out Skrillex winning at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LceBu10wmhs .Third, it teaches you what the industry means by “best song” and “best record” and “best album” and why those are all different. Song is the songwriting award, record is for the recording of one single song (track), and album is for the album as a whole – all the tracks and concept etc. Last, the Grammys are really about where the “power” is in the music business, and where it is shifting.

So let’s go back to our buddies the Lumineers. They didn’t win Americana but why didn’t they win “Best New Artist?” As you know Fun. won that award. They were nominated for six awards in total. So why did the Lumineers not take it home? Many possible reasons, but here is my 2 cents, or “what I learned at the Grammys about the music business.” Fun.’s new album, their second, is on Fueled by Ramen which is a subsidiary of Warner Brothers Records, one of the last of the BIG THREE. Fun. was the darling of Warner Brothers and that label put all the power of its publicity and marketing engine into that release. Timing: the Lumineers peaked in January with appearances on major shows like Saturday Night Live, after the Grammy voting was done. I believe these two factors, plus some others including the fact that Fun.’s hit single that won and the band are fantastic, are why the Lumineers did not win. Was their record the best record? I don’t know. But what I do know is that the Grammys are a barometer for where the industry is right now, and that place is shifting from older established artists to young new artists; many of them independent, and that’s pretty great for Colorado.
First, artists like myself and the Lumineers are all getting noticed on a national level. Second, Colorado is not pigeonholed to one sound like Seattle. We have the Flobots, the Fray, the Lumineers, 3oh3, Tennis – you name it – who are ALL breaking out and who are all different. Third, we have the BEST venues for live music of any part of the country, and promoters like AEG and Soda Jerk are going out of their way to give new young bands a shot. So take heart fellow DIY musicians in Colorado. Even though the Lumineers didn’t win either Grammy they were nominated for, they are–and we ARE–breaking out. We ARE making it to the Grammys as nominees, and we are winning Grammys. Record producer Tom Wasinger has won two Grammys in the past six years and he lives right here! Air Show Mastering has won a number of Grammys for their mastering work and they are a Boulder-based company.

Tags: the fray, ucd, Diy:you're not in it alone, the flobots, 3oh3, the lumineers, bonnie raitt, skrillex, avett brothers, better days, tom wasinger, al jarreau, hubert laws, dee dee bridgewater, mark oblinger, bob dylan, grammys, fun., best children's album, john hiatt, dwight yokum, mumford & Sons, john fullbright, fueled by ramed, warner brothers records, saturday night live, tennis, aeg soda jerk, air show mastering

Category: Shop Talk

Comments (1)

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Gabriel Kitzman says:

April 4, 2013 at 1:00 am

I can’t help but think that there is more to winning a Grammy than just having good music/recordings. It seems like more of a popularity contest sometimes (forgive my cliche)… Not that artists like Fun., Mumford and Sons, and Bonnie Raitt aren’t deserving, but does an artist have to be on a major label to win a Grammy? Is the voting staff diverse enough to allow for nominees on other labels or DIY-ers to get some recognition, or is penetrating the honchos that control major labels the only way? There is LOTS of GREAT music out there, but the funnel to winning a Grammy seems a little tight. Am I alone in thinking this?
Maybe that is just how things are, and if one thinks a Grammy is what they want, then that is the path that one must take… Perhaps it’s just the egalitarian in me looking for justification. Nevertheless, I’d just like to know why I’m rarely surprised when they announce the winners… The squeaky wheel gets the grease I guess??