the first no-retail grammy
as a former member of the academy (long story), and being familiar with the making of the sausage, i tend to avoid the grammy awards, but this year there’s a little footnote worth noting in all the hype. reuters seems to have wrapped it up in one sentence very nicely:
Jazz Composer Nabs Grammy After Web-Only Sales [reuters, feb 13, 2005]Jazz composer Maria Schneider took home a Grammy on Sunday for her album “Concert in the Garden,” without selling a single copy in a record store.
now, you can argue about the artistic merits of a grammy winner, but you can’t argue about the relationship between grammy nominees/winners and sales. this year, we have the first grammy winner that’s not pumping cash through retail chains. that’s a big deal.
so, congratulations to maria schneider… and maybe you’ll drop by that link and push this envelope just a little bit further.
one more little detail – schneider is doing the limited edition thing – 10,000 units, and the auction thing. if you’re interested in music promotion in the new century, that’s worth a visit too.
‘Concert in the Garden’ Limited Edition CD [mariaschneider.com]I will release only 10,000 CDs of ‘Concert in the Garden’ –that’s it, not one more.
9,000 of these CDs are available for pre-order. 1,000 are being reserved for a special auction to be announced in the near future. … After these CDs are sold, this recording will only be available as a digital download.
update (2005.02.21): joi picked up on this, so i can relax now that the world is aware :). barry got it too. excellent.