Grammys 2024: How a monopoly of three big labels dominate the nominees
Of the 32 nominees that make up the major categories at this year’s Grammys, all but one are signed to subsidiaries of the three biggest music labels. In the wake of a UK parliamentary report that has showcased rampant gatekeeping within the music industry, this monopoly demonstrably playing out at the so-called Oscars of music is evidence of a damaging conspiracy that perpetuates a sense of marketable commercial control rather than a meritocracy.
When it comes to ‘Record of the Year’, ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Song of the Year’, and ‘Best New Artist’, the entirety of the acts are signed to either Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, or one of the many subsidiaries that these three giant conglomerates own. The exception is also an oddity; somehow Jelly Roll – who is signed to BMG, a group that was once absorbed by Sony but re-emerged as its own entity in 2008 – is nominated for ‘Best New Artist’ despite having released 18 albums.
This peculiarity proves confounding, but it also serves to highlight the fact that these nominations are not considered meritocracy reflective of the true music landscape. On the one hand, you’d expect these three big record labels to dominate owing to the fact that they command the widest talent base in the industry and often sign up the most successful acts, marketing them to further heights thereafter. However, with well over 500 worthy record labels operating on a global basis, it seems improbable that absolutely all of these nominees, barring one inexplicable absurdity, can be traced back to just three giants without significant political manoeuvring taking place.
For reference, Far Out is an entirely independent music publication, and when we chose our best albums of 2023 purely on merit, nine different labels were represented in the top ten alone. This is far more reflective of the global market share which, as of 2022, consisted of: 31.9% Universal Music Group, 30% independent record labels, 22.1% Sony Music Entertainment, and 16% Warner Music Group. And yet that indie 30% – which has sadly fallen from a pre-pandemic high of 33.8% – is represented by just 3.1% of the major nominations.
Naturally, it goes without saying that we are also an alternative publication, and the Grammy Awards has long been considered a commercialised event – despite enlisting counterculture icons like Joni Mitchell for performances in a not-so-cleverly-veiled bid to showcase otherwise – so you might expect a more uniform representation amid the commodified acts up for the big awards. But it also represents a danger to a healthy musical ecosystem to simply shrug off the Grammys as a pop ceremony of little cultural relevance beyond the charts.
Last year, it was viewed by 12.5 million people, and a Grammy still remains the most esteemed award in music. That earmarks it as a fantastic platform to showcase music’s ever-green potential to exhibit equality and champion genuine diverse talent regardless of who represents them. While the Grammys would argue that they do this, and the 3.1% of independent label representation swells dramatically when you get beyond the major categories, it seems indicative of the problem as a whole that they are separated and categorised away from the big prizes that will dominate the column inches come Monday morning.
Sadly, the event that should spotlight talent seems to have been railroaded by the same conglomerate monopoly in music that continually strong-arms the industry towards its own profitable ends. Thus, the Grammys in 2024 is lining up to be an orchestrated advertisement for the best that Sony, UMG and Universal have to offer.
Why would they bother when awards are regarded as flippant by and large, and you’d be hard-pushed to market a shoo-in winner like Taylor Swift beyond the level she is already at anyway? Well, the music industry stands more to gain economically than ever before. In 2023, the value of music sales amounted to £2.2bn in the UK, matching the previous high of 22 years ago. This is because of what is known as the lipstick effect amid recessions, whereby music is seen as an affordable luxury in place of big-ticket items. For instance, in the cost of living crisis, you may not be able to afford a fancy holiday, so a vinyl treat or a streaming subscription to be able to put on a playlist with dinner is viewed as a justifiable luxury in its place.
However, despite this, artists are finding it harder than ever to break through, and many at the grassroots level (like the venues that support them) are being increasingly squeezed out of the profit pool by the grabbing hand of the big three. Thus, it is more important than ever that music has its independent champions to address this and make the industry better for everyone. From the evidence presented, the Grammys sadly isn’t one of them.
Grammys 2024: The full list of nominees by label:
‘Album of the Year’
- Boygenius – The Record (Interscope = UMG)
- Janelle Monáe – The Age of Pleasure (Wondaland Arts Society (own label) / Epic = Sony)
- Jon Batiste – World Music Radio (Interscope = UMG)
- Lana Del Rey – Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (Interscope = UMG)
- Miley Cyrus – Endless Summer Vacation (RCA = Sony)
- Olivia Rodrigo – Guts (Geffen = UMG)
- SZA – SOS (RCA = Sony)
- Taylor Swift – Midnights (UMG)
‘Record of the Year’
- Billie Eilish – ‘What Was I Made For?’ (RCA = Sony)
- Boygenius – ‘Not Strong Enough’ (Interscope = UMG)
- Jon Batiste – ‘Worship’ (Interscope = UMG)
- Miley Cyrus – ‘Flowers’ (RCA = Sony)
- Olivia Rodrigo – ‘Vampire’ (Geffen = UMG)
- SZA – ‘Kill Bill’ (RCA = Sony)
- Taylor Swift – ‘Anti-Hero’ (UMG)
- Victoria Monét –‘On My Mama’ (RCA = Sony)
‘Best New Artist’
- Coco Jones (Def Jam = UMG)
- Gracie Abrams (Interscope = UMG)
- Fred Again.. (Atlantic = Warner)
- Ice Spice (Capitol = UMG)
- Jelly Roll (BMG = Independent)
- Noah Kahan (Republic = UMG)
- Victoria Monét (RCA = Sony)
- The War and Treaty (UMG)
‘Song of the Year’
- Billie Eilish – ‘What Was I Made For?’ (RCA = Sony)
- Dua Lipa – ‘Dance the Night’ (Warner)
- Jon Batiste – ‘Butterfly’ (Interscope = UMG)
- Lana Del Rey – ‘A&W’ (Interscope = UMG)
- Miley Cyrus – ‘Flowers’ (RCA = Sony)
- Olivia Rodrigo – ‘Vampire’ (Geffen = UMG)
- SZA – ‘Kill Bill’ (RCA = Sony)
- Taylor Swift – ‘Anti-Hero’ (UMG)
