Never Try To Understand Awards

The Grammys are January 26, 2020, a little earlier than normal. The nominations were a Thanksgiving gift for many this year. And to some, a late trick or treat.

They certainly were a huge gift to Tanya Tucker, who had four and led all other Country nominees. Miranda Lambert is dancing on the ceiling with one (Best Country Album) for her Pistol Annies and another solo nomination (Best Country Song) for her current radio hit, "It All Comes Out in the Wash."

The nomination day was less exciting for Taylor Swift, who had fewer than expected. She faces Billie Eilish, the hottest teen act to come along in years. This may not work out well for Swift, who is openly fighting with her ex record company. She's winning that battle, but not yet the war.

Carrie Underwood, coming off her Entertainer of the Year loss at the CMAs, got no help from Grammy. Maren Morris is probably confused when she wins CMA Album of the Year but gets little Grammy love. She got just one nomination, shared with Brandi Carlile, for "Common" in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category.

If you buy into the award show winning and losing emotions, it's a setup for a fall. Winning is great, nothing like it, but getting ignored is maybe worse.

Look at the nominations for Willie Nelson and Tanya, then pat someone on the back for the Tyler Childers nomination for Best Country Solo Performance ("All Your'n"). This is where a nomination alone is worth a million bucks. Now the PR team needs to pick up the ball and run with this one.

Nominated songs and performances "The Daughters," "Bring My Flowers Now," and "Ride Me Back Home" will send the masses reading the nominations to the new music library.

The awards game is a winner for Lil Nas X, who got six nominations and will probably score a few wins for those six. Is that Billy Ray Cyrus a survivor or what?

Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn have nominations. Vince Gill does too in the Best American Roots Song category. Vince has 21 Grammys! 21! Dolly Parton got a nomination in the Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song category. She has nine Grammys and 47 nominations. This week's made 48.

Maybe this is where Eric Church wins for Album, and Chris Stapleton wins for his "Toy Story 4" song, "The Ballad Of The Lonesome Cowboy." A win in that category (Best Song Written For Visual Media) will likely send Stapleton to an Oscar nomination.

Trying to get a major award nomination is a PR skill. Many PR professionals work all year long planning their Oscar campaigns. That happens to a lesser degree in music, but it is a process. Award nominations can mean performance slots on worldwide TV shows.

Look at the top song sales from the recent CMAs: P!nk with Chris Stapleton's "Love Me Anyway" sold 21,000 units in three days, up 4,892%! It sold very little in the days immediately prior to the show.

Awards equal money, exposure, press coverage, and maybe more radio play.

All the performances on the CMAs had to equal a radio bump, Old Dominion and Miranda for sure. You live by the award shows and you die with the award shows. You will go crazy trying to make sense of them.

The fan-voted award shows skew to the rabid fan club voters. The industry shows have label voter guidance and folks who vote with their pocketbooks. For some, it's simply a popularity contest: they like someone or not.

The 2020 Grammy nominations probably gave Lil Nas X some legitimacy to go along with Forbes report that he's made 14 million bucks with "Old Town Road" so far. Eilish will probably be a bigger superstar after January 26. Swift may not be happy at all after her strong 2019 ending at the American Music Awards.

As The World Turns ... so are the Days of Our Lives. Building a foundation on award shows give and take is the definition of standing on shaky ground. Not everyone can be a Vince Gill. He really does have it all: rare talent and personality, now 45 Grammy nominations, and he's an Eagle too. Find me another career like that one!

Congratulations to all the nominees. And to those expecting - but not getting -- a nomination, get back in the studio, and make sure your label knows how to run a Grammy campaign.