From the NY Times (show is on MTV2 on Nov 15 I think....)
November 7, 2004
Honoring the Unheard (Listen Up, Fat Cats)
By JEFF LEEDS
The New York Times
Los Angeles -- LOOKING back at the highlights from the short life of the Shortlist Music Prize, which he and his partner Tom Sarig founded, Greg Spotts has to admit things don't always go according to plan. "There's no cue cards," he shrugs. Like the time last year when the singer-songwriter Conor Oberst denounced Clear Channel Communications, the radio, concert and advertising giant, while onstage at the company's Wiltern theater here. Or the year before, when the producer Pharrell Williams ranted to the crowd about how his record company, Virgin Records, had botched the marketing of his band's debut CD, shocking the label employees who'd shown up to applaud his performance.
It's the sort of behavior that might earn a lifetime ban from the Grammys. But those moments perfectly capture the spirit of the Shortlist prize and its awards concert, which its founders have trumpeted for four years as a counterweight to the rest of the industry's offerings. Most awards shows are tightly scripted, slickly produced affairs and focus on the biggest, most commercial stars. But the Shortlist follows the opposite logic: only CD's that have shipped fewer than half a million copies are eligible.
This year's finalists are the rapper Ghostface Killah, the country legend Loretta Lynn, the singer-songwriter Nellie McKay, the rock bands the Killers and TV on the Radio, the French electronica duo Air, the Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand, the rootsy rockers Wilco, and the British rappers the Streets and Dizzee Rascal.
It's a list that could serve as index of hipster music for the last 12 months. The 10 finalists cover a diversity of genres, or at least diversity as an indie-rock fan might interpret that term. For example Ms. Lynn's album, a collaboration with Jack White of the rock band the White Stripes, didn't attract much notice from country fans or the Nashville establishment, but it was a must-have for the rock intelligentsia.
These are artists who, for the most part, don't seem desperate for - or, in any case, destined for - multiplatinum sales, pop radio ubiquity and video channel rotation. The artist DJ Shadow, performing at the annual concert two years ago, jokingly described the awards show lineup as "a cavalcade of losers." But its profile is rising and expectations are high for this year's show, scheduled for Nov. 15. Its producers say the success of these unusual awards constitutes a repudiation of the standard pop machinery.
"The focus of the business has really left the area of developing people," Mr. Spotts said, "like the Bob Dylans and Bruce Springsteens and U2's of the future."
Still, Mr. Spotts concedes that the premise of the prize itself is to showcase lesser known talents. "The focus on drawing from the obscure puts some kind of cap on how far we can take it,'' Mr. Spotts said. "The ultimate challenge is to see how far you can get with talent that's on-deck for being big, rather than being in the batter's box."
"If industry people cared about it, and promoted it, it would defeat the Shortlist and what it's about,'' said Will.I.Am, who was one of the panel of judges this year and is a member of the pop band Black Eyed Peas.
Mr. Spotts and Mr. Sarig, both of whom also work as talent managers (for record producers and recording artists, respectively), said they had created the Shortlist after becoming frustrated in an industry that seemed to be increasingly focused on the big opening week sales figures of acts like Britney Spears and 'N Sync. "People that see life that way are going to see what we're doing as not that interesting," Mr. Spotts said.
Unlike the Grammy trophies or the American Music Awards, the Shorty has no ties to an established institution like the recording academy or Dick Clark. So Mr. Sarig and Mr. Spotts rely instead on the prestige and perceived taste of their nominating committee, composed of 20 musicians, celebrities and music journalists.
This year the committee included Robert Smith of the Cure, 3D of Massive Attack, the musicians John Mayer and Norah Jones, the actor Jack Black (who is also one half of the rock-comedy duo Tenacious D), the radio DJ Nic Harcourt and the film director Jim Jarmusch.
Ms. Jones, who is participating for the first time, said, "I think it's important this level of music is getting recognized. This is the kind of music I listen to. I don't listen to pop radio. There's people out there who just listen to whatever's on the radio. I don't think they're stupid. They're just busy. This is a great way to reach those people."
Some have scoffed that the idea of a public awards show geared to insiders is a bit precious, but the organizers insist it makes good sense. "We're not so pretentious as to claim these are the absolute best records of the year," Mr. Sarig said recently. "We're just saying, here's 10 records that are really creative and are probably worth checking out. We don't want to be this ivory tower award. We want to be something that actually builds fan bases by bringing attention to these artists."
Still, the concept can be a tough sell to the major record companies, who devote most of their energy to releases that easily fit into popular radio formats and the racks of mass retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. If executives catch even a whiff of mainstream success for one of their off-center artists, the semiprestige of the Shortlist becomes no longer a priority. In fact the Killers and Franz Ferdinand, both with hits on the radio, won't be coming off tour to attend the awards show, the organizers were told.
But Errol Kolosine, general manager of Astralwerks Records, which releases music by Air and other acts, said the Shortlist has a definite value. "Do I think it's a force to be reckoned with yet? Not necessarily," he said. But he added that it is an important development: "We do need more indicators pointing to these kinds of records." At the very least, some label executives say, the event can be a last ditch chance to squeeze sales out of specialty or niche releases.
Mr. Sarig said that so far the event has lost money each year, but he and other organizers hope to change that and turn it into a musical version of the Sundance Film Festival.
For the winner, the rewards are already well established: in addition to a $10,000 check from XM Satellite Radio, the event's sponsor, all previous award recipients - N.E.R.D., the Icelandic band Sigur Ros, and the Irish singer Damien Rice - have experienced an increase in sales. Two weeks before he won last year, Mr. Rice's album "O" had sold about 40,000 copies; it has now sold more than 300,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan data.
As the first step in selecting this year's nominees, each of the committee members created a list of up to seven CD's from the last 12 months. The lists were in many ways unpredictable. Despite their country origins, the Dixie Chicks, for example, passed over Loretta Lynn and instead nominated the Brazilian pop star Bebel Gilberto. Next, the members chose the 10 finalists that constitute the Shortlist. A final round of balloting determines the winner.
In previous years, the organizers held a dinner on the night of the awards concert where the members would deliberate like a jury until they agreed. That made for some impassioned (translation: boozy) quarrels. The first year, Mr. Sarig recalled, the committee members split on racial lines, one side favoring Sigur Ros, the other Talib Kweli. But last year, Mr. Sarig said, about half the listmakers skipped the dinner. This year, the voting will be conducted by ballot.
By aiming their award at left-field music, of course, the organizers have assured themselves a spot in the debates about just how artsy and obscure is artsy and obscure enough. Last year's choice of Mr. Rice, for example, drew a few catcalls from critics who insisted it was too sleepy for a program that aspires to be adventurous. On the fringes of the popular music scene, there may simply be no pleasing some people.
For the second year, the awards program - which will feature performances by Air, Nellie McKay, TV on the Radio and Dizzee Rascal - will be turned into a special for MTV's junior spinoff, MTV2. It will also be accompanied, for the first time, by the commercial release of a compilation CD with tracks from the 10 finalists, along with a handful of songs from other critically acclaimed acts like Café Tacuba and Ryan Adams.
For the organizers, the trick may now be expanding their franchise without sacrificing legitimacy.
"I think the most important thing about the Shortlist is that it remain an entity, in the long term, that is an alternative," Mr. Kolosine of Astralwerks said, adding, "There are always going to be artists laboring away in obscurity making great music."
