Do music awards matter?

Following the recent announcement of the 2020 Mercury Prize winner (Michael Kiwanuka, woo!), I’ve been thinking about music awards as a proponent of the industry, their impact, their legitimacy, and ultimately how much meaning they hold.

There has been long-held controversy and distrust surrounding institutions such as the Grammys, with allegations of misconduct undermining the prestige that comes with receiving such an award. A standout moment of controversy in my mind is when Macklemore beat Kendrick, Kanye, Drake and Jay-Z to win the Best Rap Album Award in 2014. Even Macklemore himself apologized for winning the award, saying that Kendrick should have won it. Despite the criticism that surrounds it, the Grammys are still a big deal, and has the power to propel any artist that wins one into a higher sphere of musical success.

The Mercury Prize, which chooses one annual winner out of 12 nominated albums all from UK artists, is pitched as both recognising artist achievement, as well as introducing new music from a range of genres to a wider audience. An independent panel of judges selects the shortlisted albums from the year and then pick the winner based on solely the quality of music on the album.

The Mercury Prize was discussed on the recent episode of the ‘Are We Live’ podcast (an insightful and funny podcast by four artists I’m very fond of: Barney Artist, Alfa Mist, Jordan Rakei & Tom Misch). They express their general cynicism with regards to all awards in the music industry. Is any award winner ever based solely on the music? In the industry, there are a lot of elements that come into play: contacts, budget, relevance, narrative, popularity – all of these things most likely contribute to the chances of an artist winning the award. Despite their criticisms of award shows, most of them admit that they’d still be over the moon if they won a Grammy!

Traditional award ceremonies undoubtedly still hold great value for the music world. They are a way to publicly celebrate talent, recognise hard-work from the artists themselves as well as the teams around them, and hopefully introduce music fans to new songs, albums, artists and even genres.

Additionally, it is important that award ceremonies are pushed to reflect the diverse range of artists that are out there. As a platform they have the capability to influence and shape the industry. People sitting at home watching these ceremonies need to see people that look like them, come from similar backgrounds, and represent them up on those stages. Music awards, as just one example of how individuals can be given a platform, have this responsibility and should strive to use it to make a positive change.

I think it is also important to acknowledge that alongside these traditional formats of awards, there are new emerging accolades that an artist can use as hallmarks of their success, such as playlist inclusions, numbers of streams and views, and fan engagement.

However, even these modern benchmarks do not necessarily serve as a way of judging the quality of music. Ultimately, for most artists, the true quality of their music and the impact it makes on individuals is what defines them as a creative, and this can never be captured by a trophy or a stream count.