Showbiz Sandbox 181: Why The Grammys Telecast Matters More Than Ever

February 11, 2013

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While winning a Grammy Award can boost a musician’s record sales temporarily, a knockout performance during the widely viewed ceremony can launch a career. Simply ask Mumford & Sons who stole the show during the 2011 telecast and on Sunday took home the 2013 Grammy for Album of the Year. Will the Lumineers, who performed at this year’s ceremony, follow in their footsteps?

David Wild, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone magazine, helped write the Grammy telecast as he has for the past 12 years. He joins us to discuss how the show was put together, working with host LL Cool J and some of the elements that came off without a hitch (projecting images onto Carrie Underwood’s dress comes to mind). Wild even reveals John Mayer’s secret life as a joke writer.

Meanwhile, digital downloads are already outpacing physical sales in music and will surely do so with books and movies in the not too distant future. But what happens when you want to sell off all those media downloads in the now non-existent digital secondhand market? Amazon is trying to patent technology that will make such sales possible.

Of course we cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how “The Walking Dead” continues to increase viewership, an end to Don Johnson’s lawsuit over “Nash Bridges” and why some concerts may be sold out before tickets ever go on sale.

David Wild on Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-wild/

Foreign Box Office: ‘Django Unchained’ Remains No. 1, But ‘Die Hard’ Steals Weekend
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/foreign-box-office-django-unchained-420087

‘Argo’ Tops 2013 BAFTA Awards
http://www.indiewire.com/article/2013-bafta-award-winners-in-progress

Grammys Down From Last Year, Draws More Than 28 Million Viewers
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-grammys-down-last-420341

Grammys Measure Present By The Past
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/arts/music/grammy-voters-reward-sounds-of-the-past.html?hp

Grammys Review: Music Is Too Personal to Make Show a Multi-Demo Hit
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bastard-machine/grammy-all-performances-memories-420298

Grammys Preview – The Best Albums Of 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/music-grammys-preview_b_2648391.html

Don Johnson Gets $19 Million In Nash Bridges Lawsuit
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/don-johnson-gets-19-million-420358

News Corp Quarterly Profits More Than Double
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/news-corp-quarterly-profit-more-418853

Sony Quarterly Operating Earnings Improve
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sony-quarterly-operating-earnings-improve-419120

Starz, Sony Pictures Extend Film Output Deal
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/starz-sony-extend-film-deal-420320

‘Walking Dead’ Returns With Series Best 12.3 Million Viewers
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walking-dead-ratings-season-3-midseason-premiere-420209

Pump Boys Cancels Broadway Run
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/pump-boys-wont-open-on-broadway-this-season/?ref=theater

The CW Renews Three Shows
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/vampire-diaries-supernatural-arrow-renewed-420390

Local Stations Stalling 3-D TV
http://hollywoodinhidef.com/2013/02/local-stations-stalling-3dtv/

Can The Concert Industry Survive After Mick Jagger and Madonna Retire?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mick-jagger-madonna-bruce-springsteen-418028

Amazon Poised To Sell Used E-Books
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/55849-amazon-poised-to-sell-used-e-books.html

The Case For Abolishing The Patent
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/the-case-for-abolishing-patents-yes-all-of-them/262913/

David Wild’s Books (at least some of them):
He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond
Diary of a Player: How My Musical Heroes Made a Guitar Man Out of Me

Comments

One Response to “Showbiz Sandbox 181: Why The Grammys Telecast Matters More Than Ever”

  1. Mgiltz on February 15th, 2013 12:06 pm
     

    Like the Oscars and the Emmys, the actual awards handed out can be frustratingly wrong. (Country Album of the year to Zac Brown Band? Yikes.) But the show is the most entertaining of all, thanks to only a handful of awards given out on the air, almost no inane banter for presenters and lots of musical performances. Now if only Grammy winners would deliver better speeches!