Quick Takes: And for the Record(ing) we need to go more “GaGa!”

While the rest of the universe is scratching their heads and debating how Taylor Swift won the Grammy for album of the year, the Internet broadcast of the Classical awards from earlier in the day on Sunday left me perplexed…and the sad thing is, it’s  maybe just me who is.  It seems not only are precious few Classical recordings being sold (very scary numbers below), but most of the winners for the Classical awards did not attend….and for crying out loud Roberta Flack, a living legend was handing them out!….

Music’s biggest night?  Well judging by the no shows at the Classical portion of the awards, you wouldn’t think so.  There were 11 categories.  Sharon Isbin was there to pick up her award, but she was also performing.  There was half of the Emerson Quartet, Steve Epstein was there for his and for the 450 or so performers that took part in Mahler 8 with the SFSO conducted by MTT?  Who made the trip down I5, but Kevin Fox director of the Pacific Boys Choir who are on the recording.  Not to disparage Kevin or their contribution, but even he seemed a little uneasy accepting the awards the recording received.  So for 11 awards, 4 acceptors.  Ms. Flack seemed a little embarrassed by the whole thing as award after award she had to keep saying we will accept the award on their behalf.  Now it might be easy to understand if European nominees have trouble justifying traveling but for crying out loud, it’s the Grammys!  The Classical recording industry is taking a nose dive (unless you’re Lang Lang or Yo Yo) so while it’s still going,  send someone to accept the awards!   If MTT couldn’t be there, how about the concertmaster, one of the singers perhaps, it’s a big deal…or it used to be.  It was such a let down, no excitement at all, although the line of the day was when Kevin said something along the lines of  wow, Roberta Flack, my mom is freaking out right now to which she replied at least he didn’t say it was his grandma!

We need some fist pumping excitement instead of no shows and “gee thanks”.  It is hard to believe that the recipient of the most Grammys in history is Sir Georg Solti, with 31 and the the #1 “band”, none other than the Chicago Symphony with 60!  We whine about the lack of interest in Classical Music yet it’s hard to get people interested if we ourselves show little interest when being recognized.

Now for the numbers, this article in the Washington Post paints a grim picture about US sales (it is better in Europe).  On the sales of Hilary Hahn’s latest album after her appearance on the “Tonight Show”:

……Hahn’s new album, “Bach: Violin and Voice,” debuted that week at No. 1 on the Billboard classical charts.

No. 1 on the charts: It doesn’t get any better than that. Or does it?

The dirty secret of the Billboard classical charts is that album sales figures are so low, the charts are almost meaningless. Sales of 200 or 300 units are enough to land an album in the top 10. Hahn’s No. 1 recording, after the sales spike resulting from her appearance on Conan, bolstered by blogs and press, sold 1,000 copies.

1000 copies, exactly 1000?  Well there is a story with how that number is worked out (bold is my emphasis):

SoundScan, the company that provides sales data to Billboard, says it cannot officially release exact sales figures to journalists. Instead, all numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000, so sales of 501 copies are reported as 1,000, and anything less than 500 is “under 1,000.” On last week’s traditional classical chart, only the top two recordings managed to sell “1,000” copies. Every other recording (including, in its second week, Hahn’s) sold “under 1,000.” The official total sales of the top 25 titles amounted to 5,000 copies, an average of 200 units a recording (sorry, “under 1,000”). And yes, that includes downloads.

I thought downloads were supposed to revive Classical Music sales?  Is there anyone who is looking into this, or is the situation hopeless?…..I hope not!  Just a thought, if a Pop/Rock artist is a fan of any composer how about convincing them to include a Classical bonus track by a Classical artist?  I don’t see how it would hurt, we have got to try something so that a Grammy is more than just a quaint mantelpiece decoration..that is sent through the mail!

4 thoughts on “Quick Takes: And for the Record(ing) we need to go more “GaGa!””

  1. My first impression here is that the relationship between classical artists and the public face of the recording industry is stuck in a vicious cycle. Could it be that artists don’t bother because they know that their presence won’t make any difference to the media coverage at all? While I agree that they could at least send a representative, It seems downright bothersome to make a personal trip to the Grammys and leave unnoticed by the press.

    The only reason major awards ceremonies are ever a big deal is because they are a market force – a form of promotion that money alone can’t (completely) buy. (That’s ignoring the effect of awards-season dollars poured into awareness in the trade magazines, of course.) If that promotion isn’t happening for classical music, then in a way, the awards have failed to legitimize themselves and the musicians have little reason to care.

    While I ordinarily don’t favour any genre putting itself into a ghetto, I do not believe music outside of the pop-culture entertainment bubble is well served by the Grammy Awards, and classical musicians would be far better served with a separate form of recognition armed with an independent, dedicated PR machine. (Maybe one already exists, but I’m not one to know.)

    • Some salient points, although our own awards would be watched by people in the 10’s of 100’s! There is a Brit Classical Music Awards. The thing about the Grammys is that to be nominated the record company and/or the individual has to submit the recording to be considered for the specific category. Essentially you nominate yourself otherwise you don’t even get considered, so if you don’t care and if you wont show then don’t submit! The fact is they do care as I am sure all the winners who didn’t show wont hesitate to call themselves Grammy winners now!

  2. What part does/should radio play[s] in awarding Grammys for performance/production.
    I find myself buying only the works I plan to study/read or perform.
    Most casual listening now is via FM.

    • There is no influence (or supposedly none) from radio plays, but like Bill says in his post, someone voting in the Classical category who is not an avid listener or follower, might in his view gravitate to famous names.

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