Here are the nominees: www.grammy.com/nominees

Florence and the Machine and Mumford and Sons are up against Bieber and Drake for Best New Artist. The clowns on E are talking about it right now and knocking Mumford and Sons all over. I’m sure Bieber will win it, but Florence gets my vote.

Any surprises? Who are your picks? Who’s missing from the list? Share your votes and opinions in our own little Grammy poll here.

The Grammy Noms Are Out is a post from: wax&wires

[via dailyswarm]

Independent artists and labels had a banner year at the 2009 Grammy Awards winning 56 of the 110 awards given or just over 50% of the total prizes.

“The continued growth of independent music is underscored by the success of independent artists and labels at this year’s Grammy’s. Music released by artists on independent labels scored 56 Grammys Sunday night out of a total of 110 awarded including Album of the Year and Record of the Year (Robert Plant & Alison Krauss), Best Alternative Music Album (Radiohead), Best Reggae Album (Burning Spear), Best Comedy Album (George Carlin) and Best Jazz Instrumental Album (Chick Corea & Gary Burton). Last year, independents won 36 awards,” stated Jim Mahoney, VP of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM).

I think a number of factors could be contributing to the rise of independent music, not the least of which is the internet. It’s no surprise that the net has provided a new distribution avenue for artists to get their music directly to fans without the help of labels. The 4 big labels were notoriously slow in getting on the right side of YouTube, MySpace, and other online means of streaming media. Independent labels were much more keen on trying anything that could get them closer to fans. Fast forward that trend over the next decade, and the music industry might start to look a lot more like it did in the 70s. The 4 bigs are slowly coming around to embrace social media and the influence it has on the arts and pop culture, but the tide may have already turned.

What do you think caused the sudden spike in independent music’s success? How can you apply that trend to your business model?

Indies Win 50% Of 2009 Grammy Awards is a post from: wax&wires

From MTV.com:

Death Cab For Cutie Raise Awareness About Auto-Tune Abuse

‘Enough is enough,’ frontman Ben Gibbard says of the digital voice manipulation.

Death Cab for Cutie at the 2009 Grammy Awards in L.A. Sunday Photo: Lester Cohen/WireImage

They might have looked slightly out of place on the red carpet at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, but it turns out that the guys in Death Cab for Cutie are old pros when it comes to one aspect of the step-and-repeat: the wearing of nebulous and indecipherable awareness ribbons.

As they tromped the carpet, they wore baby-blue ribbons pinned to their lapels, which — after a quick search — seemed to indicate their support of Canada’s anti-tobacco, anti-second-hand-smoke campaign, or perhaps International No Diet Day. Neither of those things made much sense, so when we caught up with them, we decided to ask about the ribbons.

And, as it turns out, they symbolize a much nobler cause.

“We’re here to raise awareness about Auto-Tuner abuse,” DCFC frontman Ben Gibbard laughed. “I think over the last 10 years, we’ve seen a lot of good musicians being affected by this newfound digital manipulation of the human voice, and we feel enough is enough.

“Let’s raise awareness,” he continued. “Let’s stop this, let’s bring back the blue note, and let’s really try to get music back to its roots of [having] actual people singing and sounding like human beings.”

Kanye, T-Pain: He’s talking to you. And while Gibbard didn’t offer up any sort of plan to end Auto-Tune abuse, or mention any Web site where concerned music fans can go for more information (which sort of defeats the whole “raise awareness” bit), he and his bandmates are hoping that their baby-blue ribbons will help inspire all the A-T fiends out there to kick their habit. If not for them, well, then for the kids.

“Otherwise, musicians of tomorrow will never practice,” Death Cab bassist Nick Harmer said. “They will never try to be good, because yeah, you can do it just on the computer.”

“A little use is OK, but there is a difference between ‘use’ and ‘abuse,’ ” Gibbard said. “And I feel we’re getting to a point of abuse at this point.”

Death Cab For Cutie Fight Auto-Tune Abuse is a post from: wax&wires

A Grammy Billboard Featuring Radiohead frontman, Thom Yorke, in LA

While the Radiohead/Lil Wayne/Kanye West Grammy mashup performance still only exists in the deepest reaches of my consciousness, there are other intriguing (and definitely more reality-based) whispers about Radiohead’s first Grammy performance ever pinging around the net.

The most believable one has the band playing In Rainbows opener “15 Step” with the help of USC’s Marching Band (via At Ease). While there are no big-band flourishes on the LP version of 15 Step, its syncopated rhythm does seem ripe for the big-bass-drum ‘n’ stand-up-snare treatment. And the Grammys seem to have a thing for marching bands (see: “Hey Ya“, “Gold Digger“). Whatever happens, you’ll be able to see it go down live on your TV set this Sunday, February 8, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Other performers include: M.I.A. (hopefully), Coldplay, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Paul McCartney with Dave Grohl, Rihanna, T.I. and Justin Timberlake, U2, Jay-Z, and Katy Perry. I am wildly excited. Then again, I genuinely like Katy Perry.

[via Pitchfork]

Radiohead Grammy Rumor Mill Goes Into Overdrive is a post from: wax&wires

The Grammy’s are just a few days away. Amazon has some of the most popular tracks from 2008, all compiled onto one CD, and on sale. With songs of this notoriety, you likely own a lot of them already, but at $5, it’s a great catch all if you don’t.

2009 Grammy Nominees

Wax Pick: 2009 Grammy Nominees is a post from: wax&wires