Artists don't like to admit it but this is probably one of the biggest
proverbial thorns in the sides of so many of them. Many artists
pretend not to care about these accolades or any form of
acknowledgement for their music but when one looks at their
reactions on social media when their names are omitted from
award nominations it becomes apparent that awards matter.
Everyone wants to be recognised for the good work they have
done and that said awards events create the illusion of creating
a platform were fairness and objectivity will prevail. Artists
routinely fall into the trap of believing that awards organisers
have the ability to discern who truly deserves this year's honours,
a crystal ball if you will that helps them to accurately determine
the best of the best. This naïve outlook couldn't be further from
the truth. There are so many grey areas when it comes to awards
recipient determination that one can easily conclude that there is
no way the system will ever be pleasing to all.
Most awards require that would be nominees submit their
projects for consideration openly acknowledging the fact that if
for some reason the "best" artist does not submit their music for
consideration then regardless of the facts then the "best' artist
will be ignored and not be considered for an award. Think about
this for a second, artists who have nothing to do with adjudicating
artistic excellence must submit their project themselves in order
to be judged. Quite literally lambs handing themselves to the
slaughterhouse. Think about this again, artists must under their
own determination say "I deserve an award' then on a single night be judged not worthy, no wonder so many artists who don't
win end up pissed.
That is the long and short of awards events. There will always be
fewer winners than losers. The issue I have here with the awards
process is why make artists submit their music when we all know
the bulk of them will be rejected and only one elevated to the title
"best of". Why do awards continue to subject artists to this
humiliating process of "so you think you are the best, well guess
what – you are not?"