Lana Del Rey's chart-topping album, Born to Die (Image by rongzhiwei)

Singer Lana Del Rey’s highly anticipated album Born to Die was released last week to mixed reviews and outstanding sales (it hit No. 1 on the iTunes album chart above Leonard Cohen, Coldplay, and even Adele).

The question arises: What, if not musical ability, does it take to make it big in the music business?

Considering the publicity generated by her strange, atonal SNL performance, which was just bad enough to be interesting, her success on the charts makes sense. If listeners aren’t buying her album because they enjoy her music, they’re buying it to revel in how mediocre it is. But a new study on artist releases suggests there’s more behind Del Rey’s recent chart-topping than the media buzz surrounding her confounding public persona. It might also be a matter of good timing.

According to a study conducted by the Independent, January is the perfect month for an artist to release an album. At the beginning of the year, sales of only 30,000 albums can result in a No. 1 spot on the charts, resulting in increased sales, radio play, and gigs at major festivals. And after the holiday lull, people are ready for new, exciting music in the new year—even if it comes from Lana Del Rey.

For more on Del Rey’s new album check out Stephen Deusner’s article on Salon.com.

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The surprises (some pleasant, some not so) of the recent nominees announcement.

After a shameful few years of mediocrity, the Grammys fought back last year, and offered a hint of breaking the mold with the underground band Arcade Fire claiming some big prizes. This caused people of all ages and backgrounds to proclaim their love or ignorance of the platinum-selling band, which was probably more attention than the Grammys had received for some time.

Fast forward to this year, and perhaps they are looking to rock the boat again? Folk rockers Mumford & Sons have more nominations than Lady Gaga. Teen-raver-sensation/dubstep hero Skrillex got more nods than Katy Perry. Other multiple nominees acts include Adele and Kanye West, naturally, but at least we can still say that many of the artists this year have been pursuing their own ideals and not the talentless flash-in-the-pans that have been molded by a pop factory.

Two major individual snubs; My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy wasn’t included for Album of the Year, nor previous Grammy dahling Taylor Swift‘s latest LP, both of which are unusual choices to leave out, given their impact on the sales charts, streaming channels and general music headlines.

Another annoying recent pattern of previous Grammy nominees, until now, was that they really liked… how to put this… ‘the oldies’. No offence, classic albums are great, but to say that the latest Paul Simon or Eagles work is more artistically interesting than their younger counterparts is often outrageous. This too, seems to have been addressed in the 2012 votes.

Whether this is all a ploy to stir up more interest or a genuine shift in voter tastes, we will have to wait and see, but the idea of a more diverse base of artists to reflect a truly diverse year is a nice thought. Not only that, but the way that folk and dubstep can both push artists into the ‘big four’ categories (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist) is an inspiring thought for independent artists everywhere.

I’ll sign off with one of the nominees for Record of the Year, and definitely one that has a wide appeal, and was only slightly overplayed Adele’s Rolling in the Deep.

The 54th Grammy Awards will be presented on February 12th, 2012. For a full list of all nominees, check out grammy.com/nominees/

by Lee Jarvis.

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So, that time of year again, huh? The Grammys are a funny thing. On one hand, they are the GRAMMYS! The most infamous and high profile music award you can get – everyone wants one. Adele (kinda) wants one. I want one. Heck, I want three. But on the other hand, they have somehow managed to miss out on awarding some of the finest talent in recent years the titles they deserve. Chicago Tribune’s Kevin Johnson recently said about last year’s Album of the year award going to Herbie Hancock, “Hancock’s a legend, but ignoring the impact of [Kanye] West and [Amy] Winehouse felt like a mistake”. Ok, ss Winehouse did win five other categories, but his point is, as the LA Times puts it, “ The industry wants — more to the point, desperately needs — …innovators, but it decidedly prefers those who also find ways to acknowledge the old traditions”.

From my point of view, whether you love or their music or personalities, the artists mentioned are talented and made a massive impact on the music industry last year. If it were a nice-person contest judged by me, they certainly wouldn’t win, but it’s not. It’s the most significant award for musical talent. So what happened?

Well, again there are some solid and possibly surprising inclusions in the 2009 Grammy nominees, namely M.I.A and rapper Lil’ Wayne. I (and many) have been a fan of M.I.A. for some time via her work with artists such as Switch and Diplo, but her recent successes with Timbaland have been more noticeable and so may have earned her a real shot at Record of the Year. Wayne, despite his typically rap lyrical content, has lately been seen happily doing some ‘standard award-bating industry promotion’ (see Country Music Awards appearance)

Maybe their inclusion is part of the attempt to draw in new fans following a fall in viewers over recent years – something they tried to revive with a new prime-time concert full of stars at the announcement ceremony, and something that I hope works. People should be excited for the awards once again, like i said, it’s the GRAMMYS!

For a brief outline of some key categories, check out the US Music Jobs forum 2009 Grammy Nominees

…and here’s the official Grammy website.

Lee Jarvis.

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