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BRITS RETURN TO LIVE STATUS
It's perhaps an indication of how stale and predictable the Brit Awards have become (alright, are) that the decision to broadcast them live again next year is being treated by the BPI like they're about to unleash the most frightening beast known to man.
Live TV, eh? Coo, that's a bit dangerous:
Trade association the BPI, which organises the BRIT Awards with MasterCard, the biggest charity fundraiser in UK music, said the move to a live show reflects a UK music scene which is in one of its most exciting and creative phases.
It's going to take place on Valentine's Day next year, which is a brilliant piece of scheduling - taking it live on the night when much of its natural constituency will be out in the hope of getting their end away and so will end up taping it anyway.
But why February 14th?
Peter Jamieson, BPI Chairman and Co Chairman of The BRITS Committee said, "'If Valentines celebrates love and the BRITs stands for great music, what better way to celebrate Britain's love for great music than to put the two of them together?"
Or, on the other hand, if Valentine's Day marks the attempt to commodify something which should be free and boundless, why not hold the annual bunfest for an industry which does exactly the same thing?
ITV are also excited at the prospect of having a programme that some people might want to watch:
Guy Freeman, Controller of Music & Events at ITV, said, "The new ITV stands for must-see appoint-to-view television. The BRIT Awards is already the biggest and most successful music awards show in the UK. Taking it live and on Valentine's Day is set to make it one of the TV events of the year."
We're not quite sure what "the new ITV" is - have they had a panicky relaunch we've missed out on? - but we imagine he means appointment to view rather than "apoint-to-view". Although the phrase "must see a point to view" - and the lack of such a point when it comes to its current output - could sum up the problems ITV has right now.
The awards themselves have been overhauled, promising these categories:
British Album
British Male Solo Artist
British Female Solo Artist
British Group
British Single
British Breakthrough Act
British Live Act
International Male Solo Artist
International Female Solo Artist
International Group
International Album
International Breakthrough Act
The Outstanding Contribution to Music Award
They've junked the genre awards - best rock, best pop and best urban - on the grounds that, firstly, they made the awards drag on way too long, and secondly, nobody could ever agree on what the distinctions were. Apart from the urban award which has, we suspect, been dropped as having a token award for black British music merely showed up how unrepresentative the rest of the prizes are.
Meanwhile, it's interesting that half the prizes are going to be celebrating music which is either not British in origin, or not contemporary. So we're told that the British music scene is "in one of its most exciting phases with new British talent shining both at home and abroad", and yet it's unable to sustain more than a portion of the programme on its own.
Past Brits: 2006 awards as-they-happened
2005 awards
1 comment:
I think it was the Joss Stone episode (in 1976 General Sir Walter Walker opened a pavillion at the nearest public school to where she grew up; if you want proof that it is capitalism not socialism that did for the England yearned for by the Wilson plotters, she is it) that did for the urban award, for all that it survived one more year after that.
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