I haven't watched the Grammys in about a decade. Maybe even longer. At some point it just became, to me at least, just another award show. And no, this is not the perspective of a musician who never made it past a certain point, hates the state of music today and is ranting about the lack of "real" artists the way Kanye West did after Beck won Album of the year. Last I checked, Beck is pretty real as far as artists go. Granted having listened to Beck's record I'm rather puzzled how it won "rock" album. It's good but is it rock? Not so much. Album of the year? Who can say really? We live in a world where on any given day you as a listener can create your own personal soundtrack on multiple devices. One person's rock is another person's chill out groove.
Truth is these days, with the unlimited access we have to music from around the world, a Grammy is a nice piece of recognition saying you're worthy of a trophy but it doesn't make you any less of a musician if you don't win one. It no longer holds the status it once had because artists have consistently succeeded without ever winning anything and have the opportunity now for more exposure than they ever did.
And that's really the thing Year after year hundreds of very talented performers don't win and they seem to still get on just fine (or continue to struggle to succeed). While watching the broadcast I actually got wind of this Swedish rapper Elliphant in an iPad commercial and found her music on Spotify. Thanks Apple. She was neither a nominee or a performer of at this year's show but she was on a repeated commercial and her music was so intriguing I felt compelled to find out more. That's how that works now. So there you go.
Technology in essence has changed the way we consume media as well as our access to it. Where at one time you may have never seen or heard a lot of the Grammy nominees, all it takes now is a good internet connection and some free time and you can discover all sorts of music, award-winning and otherwise.
Well for one thing, it's a chance for these folks to get together and honour each other and have a big ol party (or several). There's an actual award season that run's through the Spring where different versions of the same thing happens in big chunks of live or taped television time. And thanks to social media, people can have conversations about the shows while they're happening. Additionally, there is the "spectacle effect" of live TV. The Grammys have been doing odd couple pairings for some time, typically an old artist and the new one. Sometimes the performers set it up. The hope is that the pairing produces some amazing performance or conversely a total train wreck. So you watch for that. But as a fan do you really care if your favorite artist who also got nominated wins? Even better question, does the performer who wins the award see more success afterward? Remember Bon Iver? Esperanza Spalding? They were both winners of Best New Artist Grammy and now they're both part of the vast ocean of artists all trying to sustain their craft.
When you're part of a modern world that consumes music song by song and no longer digests an entire record or sustains an artist past their first couple of hits, it's hard to imagine the Grammy changing that. Keep in mind the record labels that are still viable, they don't nurture artists they way they used to. In fact they're reluctant to sign you unless you're already succeeding. So does winning a Grammy really change any of that?
So ... why even strive to win one?
Because that's what you do. The earth spins and creative people, heck anyone, who works hard at what they do every now and then like to get recognition. Not just money or fame but actual recognition in the form of being acknowledged by the industry that you commit your time and effort to. In that sense it still means a lot. And for some it will change their careers for a bit. But do you do what you do to win awards? No. In real life you do what you do, do the best you can at it and sometimes you get rewarded. What that looks like in the microcosm of the successful musician universe? You as part of a community of performers know that there is this award that you could win someday and there's nothing wrong about hoping that you may get recognized for your effort. Out of all the music awards to win, this one still has the most prestige. So yes, it is a cause for celebration and should be treated as such. It's an achievement that a small group of people get to every year.
The show itself? Well it kind of exists in this weird bubble of perennial things that are part of the entertainment/pop culture and everybody knows about whether they care or not. And it will continue to exist much like all the other award shows until one day ... it doesn't. See that's why it's a yes and no answer. It matters. Just not the way it used to.
