A reaction to the reactions of the 2010 RFT Music Awards nominations
People sure got their knickers in a kerfuffle over the announcement of the nominees for the 2010 RFT Music Awards. I mean, just look at those comments! You’ve got your folks who are hyperbolically outraged that [band you’ve never heard of] wasn’t nominated for [whatever inconsequential category], as well as your folks who were actually nominated for something but still feel the need to politely gripe over genre minutiae because, you know, the average music fan is preoccupied with “genre” distinctions.
Is this really necessary? I hate to break it to you, aspiring musicians in the struggling St. Louis music scene, but winning a “music award” from your local free alternative weekly is just not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. Think of it this way: how many times do you think some on-the-fence music fan was left sitting around his house going, “Well, well, well, Dolores, I guess it’s just you, me, and The Biggest Loser on DVR again tonight, eh? Oh, wait! What’s this? According to this random band’s MySpace internet profile, they were one of the 2007 nominees for ‘Best Folk (Untraditional)’ artist by the local Village Voice syndicate… and here’s the real kicker, Dolores, they’re playing tonight! At Lemmon’s! Call up the babysitter and send a text message to your Uncle Bob, the influential A&R rep for Universal Music Group, because we are going to have a grand ol’ time tonight!”
To put it bluntly: nothing makes your band seem more small potatoes than bragging about how well you placed in your hometown battle of the bands.
I’m not anti-RFT Showcase. It’s a great way to highlight local talent, motivate casual fans to care about local stuff, encourage people to check out stuff outside their comfort zones, remind you why this event will be the highlight of some bands’ existence, etc. It’s just the whole “winners and losers” aspect of this as an “awards” showcase that introduces more headaches than it’s worth. If we want to have a festival celebrating local music, we should just have a festival that celebrates local music.
