AWARDS:WHATARETHEYGOOD FOR?ABSOLUTELYNOTHING?

WRITES CORMAC MCCARTHY | MUSIC EDITOR

I’ll let you into a little secret Queen never won a Grammy award As mad as it sounds, it’s entirely true Neither have ABBA and neither did such acts as The Beach Boys, Nicki Minaj, Tupac Shakur, Lana Del Rey, Bjork and Jimi Hendrix The list is endless, filled with artists who have all become household names in their own right All of them may occupy thousands of bedroom walls and may have influenced both their own and the next generation of music that follows them, but no Grammy award on their mantelpiece

But what does this say about awards in general? If their purpose is to recognize the artistry on display, shouldn’t that be self-evident in the critical and commercial acclamation that an album/single/artist receives Or even if they are there to definitively recognise the single best candidate in a category, then surely that notion is so blazingly subjective that it ceases to become necessary

In any case, music is neither temporary and nor does it exist in a vacuum A song constantly finds new audiences, enters new communities and adopts new meanings to different people

For example, the folk song “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan, became an anthem for anti-war protesters during the height of the Vietnam war, transforming the song almost into a manifesto for the times However, it received mild acclaim upon release What makes Dylan’s music so captivating is not their initial impact but for their long-term impacts on all facets of humanity Anyway, Dylan didn’t win a solo Grammy until 1980, 20 years after his first album release

Awards ceremonies themselves are quite a peculiar thing The concept only began in the early to mid-20th century in the United States during the media boom of the 1930s It was a means of added promotion for the project, giving it increased press coverage, legitimacy to the art form and funding to the production company The Grammys were initially founded when executives tried to get musicians added to the Hollywood walk of fame, but when realising the sheer amount that was required to be included decided instead to create their own awards ceremony

Thus in 1959, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was created as the governing body of the Grammy Awards Over the next few decades, more and more awards ceremonies cropped up, each more niche than the other, each with their own governing body with their own rules for submission and selection Today there are just over five thousand separate music awards ceremonies worldwide

This oversaturation of industry laurels has led to the slow dwindling of prestige for each award As each new committee/magazine/governing body creates their own award, it diminishes the overall significance of the others The artist isn’t really going to care about missing out on one award if they’ve already been honoured in some other field

Furthermore, it creates an industry around the awards, where the winning artist is often the one whose campaign budget is the largest or whichever committee member has the deepest pockets Previous Music Editor Florrie McCarthy has previously touched on this in the past It creates instances where the deserving artist just doesn’t have the public profile quite yet, even though they may enter the levels of superstardom in years to come

The grandiosity and prestige of these awards ceremonies have been declining rapidly in recent years The Grammys have seen a decline in their own audience, with their television viewing figures a third of what they were ten years ago. This is a trend in awards ceremonies in general where their status has been slowly diminishing

Before the world of on demand streaming, when the entire history of the world’s music wasn’t available at the touch of a button, these awards existed to sell albums and gain radio play The average listener may have only bought one album a week and their choice of purchase would have been almost entirely dependent on which album had swept the awards category

However, with the dawn of streaming, the listener can curate their own tastes While a Grammy win may boost some listens overall, the vast majority will continue to return to their own individual preferences Nowadays, new music often reaches new listeners through algorithmically generated recommendations on these streaming platforms and through seeing what their friends are listening to

Music has become an incredibly personal affair where artists' albums have largely been replaced by user’s own playlists; the modern-day version of a mixtape There’ll be no Grammy for best playlist any time soon as each and every one is inherently personal to the listener While there is always room for analysis, there is a dwindling amount of space for superlatives The concept of the “Best Album” is slowly becoming a relic of the past

If ever there was proof, this year’s winner was Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” so make of that what you will