Scottish album Oscars to go virtual to ensure the show goes on
The nation’s crisis-hit music industry has been given a major boost after organisers of the coveted Scottish Album of the Year Award revealed plans to stage the ceremony virtually to ensure it goes ahead this year.
Scottish music fans all over the world will be able to watch the two centrepiece events of the ninth annual competition, which is open to music of all genres, unfold online for the first time.
The 20-strong longlist for Scotland’s answer to the Mercury Prize, which is worth £20,000 to the winning artist, will be revealed in a special Youtube event in September, as part of a campaign to raise the profile of the industry during the ongoing crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The final is expected to be broadcast from a live event in Edinburgh in October, where some of the country’s leading up-and-coming acts will get the chance to perform.
The Scottish Music Industry Association, which launched the awards in 2012, staged both the “Live at the Longlist” and final in Edinburgh last year, at the Queen’s Hall and Assembly Rooms respectively. It is working with two other Edinburgh venues – 54EP and Summerhall – this year.
The SMIA, which has launched a month-long callout to fans for submissions, said it was more important than ever for Scottish music to be celebrated given the the “significant risks” to the future of the industry, which was valued at £430 million last year.
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Robert Kilpatrick, general manager of the SMIA, said: “We always wanted to go ahead with the awards this year. They’re our flagship project and they offer such an amazing visibility opportunity, not just for all the nominated artists, but also for the whole industry.
“The artist who created each album is obviously celebrated, but there is a whole ecosystem around each album, in terms of who produced it, who designed the artwork and which label brought it out.
“There’s a great opportunity this year to showcase not just the amazing range of music coming out of Scotland, but also articulate and highlight how valuable the industry is, economically and culturally.
“The key focus for our whole campaign this year is digital audience development, given the challenges the industry is facing. Audiences fuel our industry, they are our biggest champions, allies, customers and supporters. We need to make sure we continually work to develop audiences when there isn’t much of a chance for artists to do that in their own right.
“The SAY Award has a real responsibility this year to drive audiences to outstanding Scottish music, at a time when there is hardly any visibility of it in Scotland. We want to inspire our future talent pipeline, as well as a future domestic market. We also want to instill a sense of civic pride in Scotland and a sense of understanding that the music community is essentially telling the stories of our people. Now, more than ever, it needs to be recognised, valued, protected and championed.”
Although the exact format of the final is yet to be decided, it will be staged in line with the latest Scottish Government guidelines, “with audience and artists’ safety at the forefront.”
Mr Kilpatrick added: “We want to create a really enganging programme for the final ceremony, so it is essentially a virtual version of how the event usually functions, but with a few interesting changes.
“A lot of what we’re planning will depend on the restrictions at that time. We’ll be looking at ways of allowing people to attend, whether virtually or in person, with social distancing.”