In the 1980s there seemed to be some certainties in life: the Tories would win the general election; I would never get to own a Commodore 64 and Annie Lennox and Phil Collins would get a nomination in the Brit Awards. Many pop videos were only shown on cable channels that few people had access to in the 1980s. You’d have to wait until at least the early evening to listen to some good tunes in the evening on Radio One (eg John Peel or Annie Nightingale). In those days to mention bands like The Smiths or other alternative music on mainstream TV could lead to hideous tortures such as death by Orville (being set alight in a huge wicker replica of Keith Harris’ loveable bird puppet).
However the 80s have gone (even if the Tories haven’t). These days specialist music channels and the Internet have made all kinds of music more available to the listener. The Brit Awards have public participation in the shape of voting for Best British Single, Best Breakthrough Act and International Breakthrough Act. In an age of instant access to a wide range of music you would think that this voting would allow for some interesting choices.
The public vote though seems to have some strings attached to it. The Best British Single is determined by sales and the volume of commercial radio air-play. The voter is then given 10 options based on the aforementioned criteria. The whole thing seems to be based on just numbers (i.e. sales and the frequency of the song on Capital FM) – in other words, a Top of the Pops for accountants. It’s like determining that the Pet Shop Boys’ 'You Were Always On My Mind' is a better song than the Pogues’ 'A Fairy Tale of New York' simply because it reached number one whilst the Pogues’ song only reached number two in the Christmas of 1987. If we look at some of the nominees, there’s a large number of Simon Cowell’s puppets in there (Olly Murs, Cheryl Cole and Matt Cardle) and that should set alarm bells ringing about the quality of some of the nominees. Surely the online voting system could accommodate every Top 40 song from British artists of last year to allow for some diversity.
The British Breakthrough Act nominees are determined by the Brits voting academy. The voting academy seems to consist of people throughout the music industry including music critics, radio producers, music publishers, promoters, record companies, retailers and NUS representatives. The diversity of the academy members voting panel is reflected in the history of the award’s winners (including acts such as the Arctic Monkeys, Belle and Sebastian, Steps and Bros). The diversity of the award’s winners shows that the Brits votes are a compromise between votes based on sales and genuine music appreciation. Radio One listeners get to choose the winner from the 5 nominees and the radio station’s broad church appeal fits in with the diversity of nominees.
The International Breakthrough Act’s nominees are also determined by a Brits voting academy and MTV viewers then get to vote for one of the 5 nominees. This year’s nominees for the music channel’s voters include Justin Bieber and the cast of Glee ... Suddenly the lyrics to Beck’s song 'MTV Makes Me Want To Smoke Crack' seem more relevant than ever.
Arcade Fire’s performance on this year’s show though reveals that the show isn’t without credibility. There’s more room for hope again because this year for the first time musicians have been allowed to join the Brit voting academy. The music industry is a business at the end of the day and perhaps we should expect various nominations to be based purely on sales. The heavy presence of company brand names (such as MTV and Mastercard for example) in the ceremony reminds us that big business is involved throughout the Brit Awards. However, money comes and goes but a good tune will stay with you for the rest of your life.
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