L
AST YEAR, POST MALONE’S
efforts to grab Grammy voters’
attention included appearances
at Recording Academy chapter
offices in major U.S. cities and
a full-page Billboard ad paid for
by his label, Republic Records. But
while he garnered four nominations
(including album and record of the
year), he walked away from the night
empty-handed. “There’s no right way
to win a Grammy,” says his manager,
Dre London. “It’s the most unpredict-
able awards show in the world.”
The Recording Academy receives
over 20,000 submissions per year,
which the academy’s voting members
narrow down into nominations in 84
categories. Overt solicitation for votes
— from bribes to including an artist’s
balloting number in an ad — leads
to disqualification by the academy,
so artists’ teams have long looked
for other ways to stand out. But as
competition intensifies and genre
lines become more blurred, Grammy
campaigns are becoming more com-
plicated, and crucial, than ever.
“The best Grammy campaigns
start the moment you hear music,”
says RCA Records co-president John
Fleckenstein, who decides when
signing an artist whether the Gram-
mys will be a major part of his or her
career. That meant a “long develop-
ment” phase for R&B breakout H.E.R.,
who signed to RCA eight years ago.
Only in 2018 did RCA begin focusing
on late-night slots and major press
looks; the singer ultimately won in two
of her five nominated categories.
One manager says that standard
Grammy campaigns run 18 months
ahead of awards night. “A rookie
manager will submit an artist too
close to the deadline, when you didn’t
have time to promote the record,”
she adds. That’s why many artists
who release music near the start of
the fourth quarter take advantage
of a small window of submission
flexibility and put their projects up for
the following year’s Grammys. (But
not always: Kendrick Lamar submitted
“i,” the buzzy lead single for To Pimp
a Butterfly, just before voting began
in September 2014, and the track still
earned Lamar his first two awards
four months later.)
Deciding which categories offer
the best chances is key. This year,
London struggled with where to
submit “Sunflower,” Post Malone’s
hit team-up with Swae Lee; outside
of record and song of the year, the
track could fall under pop, rap or R&B.
“We went back and forth with the
label before submitting it, like, ‘Are
you sure this is right?’ ” he says. (He
declined to reveal their final decision.)
Fleckenstein faces a similar challenge
with pop/R&B star Khalid, who he
says is one of RCA’s top Grammy
priorities. “It doesn’t make sense to
take a genre-specific song and go up
against a big pop song,” says Flecken-
stein of record of the year competi-
tion. “But if you know your audience,
that can guide where you have the
best shot of winning.” (Final decisions
on category placement are made by
an academy screening committee.)
From there, attracting votes for
nomination is all about timing. It’s
ideal for a song to hit its peak during
voting season in September and
October — and the more concur-
rent hits, the better. “Do not take
your foot off the gas,” says London.
“You need to remind them, ‘Hey,
remember me?’ ” Cardi B publicist
Patientce Foster thinks the rapper’s
memorable Jimmy Kimmel Live!
appearance in October 2018, during
which she cracked jokes about new
motherhood, was crucial to winning
rap album of the year for Invasion of
Privacy. “A lot of that was calculated,”
says Foster, who owns PR firm The
Cream Agency. For 2020, she thinks
Cardi’s colorful social media presence
will keep February’s retro Bruno Mars
collaboration, “Please Me,” fresh on
voters’ minds: “We want to make sure
that Cardi catches attention.”
Putting in face time helps. While
on tour, many artists take part in
meet-and-greets and performances
at the 12 Grammy chapter offices. At
one Los Angeles event last summer,
London recalls “the whole building”
watching Post Malone perform: “You
see the looks on people’s faces like,
‘Wow, this is real.’ ” Some artists
participate in the Grammy Museum’s
“in conversation” events, as Dua Lipa
and Brandi Carlile did ahead of their
2019 wins.
Many labels also put up costly
“For Your Consideration” billboards in
West Hollywood, which can run from
$8,000 to $150,000 a month depend-
ing on size and location, says Outdoor
Media Group president Ryan Laul.
The academy permits billboards as
long as they don’t explicitly reference
the Grammys, but some campaigns
shy away from such flashy promotion.
“I don’t believe running gobs of adver-
tising is going to convince anybody
that one piece of art is better,” says
Fleckenstein. Laments one manager:
“We all know people that show up
with their artists [wherever] a Grammy
event is. I’m not going to force my
people on you.”
Rebecca Shapiro, senior vp at
publicity firm Shorefire Media, also
prefers a subtler approach, like
landing stories about clients such as
Zac Brown Band and Morrissey in
Mix Magazine, Tape Op and other
trade publications found in studios.
“Oftentimes, engineers and producers
are voting members,” she says.
The best strategy, of course, is
to make music that resonates in the
first place. Fed up with a campaign
process that’s often futile, London
says he’s paring down his efforts this
year, offering only one surefire piece
of advice: “Make sure you make the
biggest hits of your life.”
BILLIE EILISH
WHO Alt-pop wun-
derkind who scored
No. 1s on both the
Billboard 200 and
Hot 100 this year.
HURDLE The Grammys
don’t usually take
teen artists seriously, and her experi-
mental-leaning tunes — co-written with
brother Finneas O’Connell — may be too
cutting-edge for older voters to get.
UPSHOT As a rare breakout with both
critical acclaim and commercial success,
she’s likely to be rewarded. And if she
wins album of the year, she’ll be the
youngest artist to ever do so.
BEYONCÉ
WHO One of the most
decorated artists in
Grammy history, with
23 wins and 66 nomi-
nations.
HURDLE While Home-
coming: The Live
Album, which captured her triumphant
2018 Coachella sets, received rapturous
acclaim, no live album has been nomi-
nated for album of the year in 25 years.
UPSHOT Only one of Bey’s wins has
been in a Big Four category — and
after her 2017 losses inspired the
#GrammysSoWhite hashtag, voters
may be eager to restore their cred.
JONAS BROTHERS
WHO The reunited trio
of brothers scored
their first No. 1 single
on the Hot 100 this
year with “Sucker.”
HURDLE Grammy vot-
ers tend to undervalue
highly commercial pop music. Justin
Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”
and Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” were
both passed over for record and song of
the year noms.
UPSHOT With new album Happiness
Begins, the JoBros display an artistic
growth even The Recording Academy
would have a hard time ignoring.
KEN EHRLICH
WHO The TV veteran
has produced or ex-
ecutive-produced the
Grammys since 1980.
HURDLE Last year
Ariana Grande said he
“stifled” her creativity
and was the reason she did not attend or
perform at the show.
UPSHOT It’s Ehrlich’s last Grammys before
Ben Winston, The Late Late Show With
James Corden executive producer, takes
over for the 2021 ceremony, so he’ll want
to end on a high note — perhaps by
making it up to Grande with a splashy
performance from her. —PAUL GREIN
What’s At
Stake For...
THE 2020 CEREMONY COULD
BE A TURNING POINT FOR
THESE INDUSTRY PLAYERS
P
R
EV
IE
W
GR
AM
M
Y
ROCKING
THE VOTE
There’s no secret to a
successful Grammys
campaign — but that
doesn’t stop music
executives from trying
BY TATIANA CIRISANO
Clockwise from top:
Post Malone, H.E.R.,
Khalid, Cardi B and
Kendrick Lamar.
144 BILLBOARD • SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ISRAEL G. VARGAS
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