In recent years, Grammy contenders have become more aggressive in their campaigns for the awards. Not only is this a major boost for sales and streams, but it helps with media bookings and events too, reports Rolling Stone. Label artists are taking cues from Hollywood and trying to secure voter-friendly events.
Before the 2016 Grammys, Kendrick Lamar taped Austin City Limits for PBS and also did an NPR interview. He told one reporter that he wanted “to win them all,” according to Rolling Stone. He won Best Rap Album that year.
Daniel Glass, president of Glassnote Records, which is pushing Childish Gambino for a Grammy, said that it gets more intense every year.
“I am getting hit personally, as a voter, with ‘For your consideration, please vote for me!’ e-mails that I have not seen at this level. The lines of decorum and class are being broken down,” he told Rolling Stone.
To be a voter, you must have contributed to at least six commercially released tracks, explains Rolling Stone, so to get voters’ attention, some artists participate in the Grammy Museum’s onstage conversations. Bob McLynn, the manager of Lorde, Sia, Green Day and others, told Rolling Stone that participating “heightens awareness of your act.”
There are other less traditional methods, like Facebook groups or email blasts. Portugal. The Man recently took out full-page ads in major newspapers.
“You have to have a profile during that [voting] period, otherwise, people won’t remember your record,” says their manager, Ritch Holtzman, according to Rolling Stone.
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