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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2014 21:23:03 GMT
Firstly, belated congrats to MM for his awards - deservedly so for those inventive albums etc. But whats the go these days? Are you people digging nominees / winners in the last year or so? Does anyone feel ****** off with the authenticity / quality of the recent bunch? Would (eg) Son House / RL Burnside - if they were up and coming - even get nominated?? TT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2014 7:45:36 GMT
For example, before FB, twitter etc, garnering votes must have been more a case of do gigs and ask people to vote. These days, if the player / band has a person dedicated to flooding social media with requests for votes long enough they will get them. Nominees / winners may be the end result of a sucessful mobilisation of an apathetic public - rather like x factor. But maybe not. TT
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Post by Michael Messer on Apr 14, 2014 8:44:57 GMT
I could write in length about this subject. Some of my thoughts were covered in the interview I did for blues.gr a few weeks ago.
What I find very disturbing is that social media seems to give people the right to say ....'VOTE FOR ME!' which I think is totally wrong.
Shine On Michael
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Post by bod on Apr 14, 2014 9:02:19 GMT
Hi TT, Not something I follow, really - neither music awards in general nor blues music awards in particular - so I don't have much of a personal view of it. Even so, I found myself mulling your question over whilst doing my cleaning job this morning. At first, I wasn't sure whether your concern was more about the state of the blues scene today (someone somewhere around here said it was increasing facile these days, pretty sure that wasn' t you, but it did lead me to wonder if that was troubling you too...) or just the nominees winners. Your further comments helped with that, as they suggest it is the process you are unhappy with as much as the outcomes (because you see it as producing very questionable outcomes). I'm inferring that you believe there are current blues performers who are authentic / quality enough to deserve nominations / awards, but who are getting lost in the process - or have I misunderstood? If it is the British Blues Awards you have in mind, it looks like they switched from the public determining nominations to a select panel coming up with nominations. The voting comes after that - so campaigns on FB and the like might help decide which nominees actually win, but not (or at least not directly) who gets nominated. According to their site, this year's panel included representatives from quite a number of blues organisations > list here < & persons wishing to be considered as panel members should email sue@britishbluesawards.com
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Post by slide496 on Apr 14, 2014 10:00:12 GMT
Forgive me for my cynicism but I think the opportunity presented for donations to the "board"and raising money has something to do with the structure of the British Blues Awards. I'd be interested in knowing if the chosen nominees actually receive any renumeration for their participation and if their travel expenses are covered. Or if they are just the draw for a fundraiser. Granted its prestigious to be nominated or win, and congratulations to all winners.
As for facebook and social media sites, although its a form of free publicity, I suppose, it concerns me votes seem to be replacing currency for actual pay - and the privilege of being used as a shill for the media sites to sell advertising.
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Post by lewiscohen on Apr 14, 2014 15:52:44 GMT
There are many worrying aspects to the British Blues Awards. The aforementioned social media vote-begging is definitely one, but the most troubling for me is that the awards seem to appointing as judges and "taste-makers" quite a few hobbyists who's knowledge of roots music in some cases doesn't extend beyond whatever you can buy in the average motorway service station. The explosion of internet blues radio stations has removed a vital layer of darwinian quality control whereby artists actually had to be able to sing, play and write interesting material before being broadcast. Now all that's needed is a sharp-elbowed parent-come-manager, a pair of hot-pants or some bogus back-story about being raised by tractors.
I've just got a new espresso machine....can anybody tell?
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Post by bod on Apr 14, 2014 16:44:34 GMT
Hi Harriet, Not sure I follow - am I missing something? I understand that these awards people invite donations, but they also say that the awards are run by 'unpaid volunteers' and that they rely on donations to pay for the awards and entertainment at the presentation. Am I being naive in seeing no real problem there? P'raps I have misunderstood your drift? To be clear, I hold no brief for these awards - it's more that if something is going wrong with them then I'm interested in what it is (we all have a stake in the state of contemporary blues culture...) My interest in their 'select panel' and how it works, then, is kinda diagnostic, if there is a problem with nominations, it is one which occurs in the panel stage... (edit: I've just read Lewis' comments which focus in on this kind of concern nicely... ) From what I read these "British Blues Awards" are a recent development (put together after the previous awards of the same name had ceased) and what we have results from an attempt to fill the perceived vacuum by scaling up a local pub's annual awards... Ambitious, yes, perhaps even foolhardy, but there is something I like about it.... > Interview with Barry Middleton < There are a few further points that struck me as interesting / potentially relevant. First, the organisation making these awards exists only to make these awards (contrast with the Blues Foundation, who's award programme is part of a wider set of goals and projects, including history, education & support as well as celebration of excellence... ) Second, the aim of the awards is only sketchily described in terms of four people agreeing that it would be a 'good idea to have an awards event to recognise the talent that is currently on the British Blues scene'. Maybe it's just me, but this seems liable to slip into getting-recognition-for-what-happens-to-be-current recognised, in a way that 'celebrating excellence' is not. Third, they seem to have imagined the communication potential of the internet would (inevitably?) lead to an improved grasp of the blues scene: "It is hoped that by getting to far more voters than anyone has ever done before (via the internet) we will get a far more accurate reflection from the blues voters than ever before. We are working hard to spread the word throughout the UK by contacting radio stations, blues related websites and venues and clubs etc". Maybe the way forward is with constructive criticism - they do claim to value it and adapt in light of it...
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Post by slide496 on Apr 14, 2014 17:48:20 GMT
Hi Bod, My complaints are general about these kinds of "in-trade" award events but of course if I were a musician I'd be happy to be nominated and win an award, I think it is a form of credential.
I am not familiar with the British Blues Awards, the performers appear and play as part of a Blues Festival, and I don't know if performers are paid, or reimbursed for the travel expenses. They write on their site they are sponsor and donation funded specifically so that means to me that they work like a charity organization and try and get money from people to support their cause, which I gather is getting to choose people to award according to their taste.
I think they are naive in their outreach - people are bombarded, and there doesn't seem to be any connection between voting meaning the musician is going to make any more or less, and if you required voters to pay a penny for the privilege of voting they wouldn't.
The things that I have heard of in "award events" that are held with a dinner is that they will set up a donation price structure, and the more you pay the better your title and perks. Then at the ceremony there may be a pitch, and the participants emails may be collected for future communications. The organization that manages to get a corporate backed donations for the musicians who win, to my mind, I would think that is the best sort of award.
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