Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News. Joining us right now
Speaker 1: is a CEO of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Junior. Harvey,
Speaker 1: Great to see you again here. Obviously a lot of
Speaker 1: excitement given some of the nominees, who, of course, really
Speaker 1: stole a lot of the attention over the last year
Speaker 1: or so. Before we get to that, though, Harvey, I
Speaker 1: do just want to kind of start off about the
Speaker 1: importance of the Grammy's not just as a television event,
Speaker 1: but also as a live event, specifically a live event
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, one year removed from those devastating fires,
Speaker 1: and whether this is going to be sort of back
Speaker 1: to normal, if you will, this year, relative to what
Speaker 1: you put on last year.
Speaker 2: I won't say back to normal, because I don't think
Speaker 2: any of these shows are normal. The size and scale
Speaker 2: and scope of the artists and the staging and all
Speaker 2: the things that happened to put the show together is
Speaker 2: always unique and exciting. Last year was extra challenging, but
Speaker 2: we've not been shortened challenges. We had COVID, we've had
Speaker 2: other issues. We've had fires, we've had rains. Will be different.
Speaker 2: It will be focused on the music and celebrating music.
Speaker 2: I'm really proud about last year's show though, to be honest,
Speaker 2: we raised almost twenty five million dollars for music people
Speaker 2: who needed help and around the fires and their loss.
Speaker 2: That money has all been distributed show just a very
Speaker 2: small amount. So proud of what we were able to
Speaker 2: do last year. Excited about this year's show. It's going
Speaker 2: to be very different fun.
Speaker 1: How important is are the Grammys to the artists themselves?
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, obviously most of the people who
Speaker 1: win are you know, they're already wildly successful, which is
Speaker 1: usually why they won. But the artists sort of really
Speaker 1: get a big boost, you know, by carrying home those
Speaker 1: awards after the night's over.
Speaker 2: Just a nomination, to be honest, can create a really
Speaker 2: large boost for them and their streaming numbers. For the
Speaker 2: touring numbers, We've done some different economic studies and the
Speaker 2: numbers range, so I won't say a figure, but the
Speaker 2: fact is the attention, the notice and the excitement around
Speaker 2: different artists is evident, and it's definitely extending their opportunity
Speaker 2: to do other performances, monetizer streaming. And it's not just
Speaker 2: the stars, to be honest, you'd mentioned all the famous
Speaker 2: people you see Kendrick Lamar there. It's ninety five categories
Speaker 2: across multiple genres. We're honoring hundreds of people that are
Speaker 2: and it's subjective, but they're being deemed the best in
Speaker 2: their class for any given year. All those people classical, jazz, rock, pop, reggae, jazz.
Speaker 2: We have awards for all of them, and they're all
Speaker 2: receiving the awards. They're all getting the benefit of receiving
Speaker 2: the awards and getting the respect of their peers in
Speaker 2: the community. And that's the difference. These are peer to
Speaker 2: peer voted awards.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, you mentioned that there's a lot of newcomers,
Speaker 3: and certainly I want to get to those, but let's
Speaker 3: talk about some of those stars. Kendrick Lamar leading the nominations.
Speaker 3: I believe he has nine nominations in total. Lady Gaga
Speaker 3: also of course a household name here. So there's a
Speaker 3: lot of familiar faces when it comes to, you know,
Speaker 3: the leader board, when at least when it comes to the.
Speaker 2: Nominations, definitely, and that's what makes it so exciting. You're
Speaker 2: seeing a lot of really great diversity in the general
Speaker 2: field category as you mentioned a couple of them, but
Speaker 2: with Pad Bunny and others. There's a wide range of
Speaker 2: different styles of music. You also have great fresh newcomers.
Speaker 2: We have some icons and some legends, today's superstars. That's
Speaker 2: a beautiful combination that's going to make for a great show.
Speaker 3: And you know, you think about some of the newcomers here.
Speaker 3: Just going through the list, I see Addison Ray, their
Speaker 3: Kat's Eye Somber. I also see the Marias here. So
Speaker 3: when it comes to, you know, the best new Artists nominees,
Speaker 3: how does this field compare to maybe years past?
Speaker 2: I think it's incredibly exciting. Again, you have different types
Speaker 2: of music and you have different types of artists. To me,
Speaker 2: that's going to be a spectacular thing to see on
Speaker 2: our show, and whoever wins this category will be so
Speaker 2: well deserving. But the other nominees I think are incredible
Speaker 2: stars going into the future.
Speaker 1: You have a partnership obviously with CBS in paramount with
Speaker 1: regards to the broadcast and streaming of this. I am curious,
Speaker 1: Harvey as you look long term. I mean the Oscar
Speaker 1: has just struck a deal that I think was there
Speaker 1: twenty twenty nine or something. They're going to be permanently
Speaker 1: going through YouTube for the live broadcast. Do you see
Speaker 1: envision that most of the award shows are going to
Speaker 1: follow that same theme path.
Speaker 2: Hard to predict. Everybody has their own journey, their own
Speaker 2: vision of what they think is best for their show.
Speaker 2: For us, we've just agreed to a new partnership with
Speaker 2: ABC Disney Disney Plus that will start after this show,
Speaker 2: so our very next show. I do think there's an
Speaker 2: opportunity to reach more people in different platforms, and everybody's
Speaker 2: going to be looking to do it in the way
Speaker 2: that their audiences are looking to be served. We want
Speaker 2: to go to where music lovers and fans of music
Speaker 2: are consuming their content, and we'll continue to look at
Speaker 2: that where everyone else decides to go. It's hard to say,
Speaker 2: but we are going to be at ABC Disney for
Speaker 2: the next ten years, all right.
Speaker 3: Harvey, really great to get some time with you. That
Speaker 3: is Harvey Mason Junior. He is the CEO of the
Speaker 3: Recording Academy