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The Grammys will consider that viral song with Drake and The Weeknd AI vocals for awards after all
The creator of 'Heart on my Sleeve,' a song that used generative AI to mimic the vocals of Drake and The Weeknd, has submitted it for Grammy Award consideration. As it turns out, the composition may actually be eligible for songwriting awards, including song of the year.
AI-generated music won’t win a Grammy anytime soon
It looks like Fake Drake won’t be taking home a Grammy. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said this week that although the organization will consider music with limited AI-generated voices or instrumentation for award recognition, it will only honor songs written and performed “mostly by a human.”
'Coloring Book' is the first streaming-only album up for a Grammy
Meghan Trainor announced the nominees for this year's Grammy Awards on Monday night. Beyonce, deservedly, is leading the field with 9 nominations followed closely by Drake, Rhianna and Kanye West who all have 8 apiece. But more surprising is the category for Best New Rap Album for which Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book is nominated. This is the first time that an album available only through streaming services has earned a Grammy nod.
Journey soundtrack loses Grammy to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Austin Wintory's composition of thatgamecompany's Journey soundtrack earned him a Grammy nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category, an accomplishment Wintory was shocked to achieve. It marked the first time a full video game score was recognized by the Academy, following Christopher Tin's win in 2011 with the song "Baba Yetu" from the Civilization 4 soundtrack.Last night, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross took home the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, for their The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo music. Wintory took the news in stride on Twitter, congratulating Reznor on the win."Obviously I didn't work on #JourneyPS3 hoping to win a Grammy," Wintory later tweeted. "The entire point was the game itself and that's gone beyond my wildest dreams." Journey won the top honor at the DICE 2013 awards and we were fairly fond of it as well. Good work, Wintory.
Austin Wintory's journey to the 2013 Grammys
On the day Grammy nominations were scheduled to be announced, Austin Wintory didn't get much work done. As the composer for Journey, Wintory had an inkling that he might be nominated in Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, and he was distracted all day, constantly refreshing the Grammy page, scanning for his name. By evening the list still wasn't posted and he gave up on trying to focus. He got in his car, determined to go home, make dinner and then check the page again."The instant I got in my car, my email started blinking. Of all people, it was from my friend Christopher Tin, emailing me to say 'CONGRATULATIONS' – in all caps."Tin won the first Grammy for a piece of video game music, Civilization 4's "Baba Yetu," in 2011. He and Wintory had been friends for years. When Wintory saw that email, he quickly called Tin and the subsequent conversation went something like this:"What are you – are you on the website?" Wintory asked Tin. "What's going on?""Yeah, I'm looking right at it! There you are!" Tin replied. And then, after a second, the situation dawned on him. "Wait a minute – you didn't know this already?""No! I'm in my car right now.""Oh, this is perfect."Just then Wintory's phone began buzzing, beeping and possibly sobbing under the barrage of emails, texts and calls from friends and well-wishers. Two weeks later, Wintory agrees with Tin's assessment of events."As fate had it, I heard from Chris himself," he says. "I had no foresight, I had absolutely no plan, and yet in hindsight, I wouldn't have it any other way."
Journey soundtrack receives Grammy nomination
Austin Wintory must be floating on air after learning his Journey soundtrack is nominated for a Grammy. Wintory's work for thatgamecompany's PSN adventure is going up against scores from the likes of John Williams, Howard Shore, and Hans Zimmer as it bids to take home only the second Grammy ever won for video game music.While Journey represents the first game to get a Grammy nod for its soundtrack, the accolade for the first game music ever nominated belongs to Civilization 4 and Christopher Tin's "Baba Yetu." Tin went one better after he took home the golden gramophone for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" back in 2011.As for the 2013 awards, the full list of nominees for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media are Journey, The Adventures of Tintin, The Artist, The Dark Knight Rises, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Hugo. Wintory learns if he's to follow in Tin's footsteps on February 10, 2013, when the 55th Annual Grammy Awards are held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Daily Update for February 13, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Steve Jobs wins posthumous Grammy, Eddy Cue accepts
We found out that Steve Jobs had been awarded a special posthumous Grammy award by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences in December of 2011, but it wasn't until last night during the televised ceremony that the award was actually presented. Apple senior VP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue accepted the award on behalf of the Jobs family, and gave a heartfelt acceptance speech (see video below). The Grammy Trustees Award is given every year to "individuals who, during their careers in music, have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording." In the past, Walt Disney and Dick Clark have been honored recipients of the award. This wasn't the first Grammy awarded to Jobs -- in 2002, Apple won a technical Grammy award. Other recipients of the 2012 Special Merit Awards included New Orleans band leader and arranger Dave Bartholomew and Rudy Van Gelder, an American recording engineer who specializes in capturing the nuances of jazz.
Four Grammy Awards renamed to include 'video games music,' underline its growing importance
Video games have never had a problem sitting alongside movie DVDs and music CDs (back when such things were distributed physically) in stores, so it's frankly overdue to see them pop up in a mainstream awards show like the Grammys. The US Recording Academy has finally deigned to address video games and their aural landscapes as a separate class of entertainment, and has now amended four of its awards to spell that out. What was formerly known as "Motion, Television, or Other Visual Media" is now reclassified as "Motion, Television, Video Games Music, or Other Visual Media," leading to there now being four awards that explicitly recognize excellence in video game music scores. Guess that was inevitable after Christopher Tin's Baba Yetu won a Grammy this February, ostensibly because of its inclusion as one of the marquee songs on Civilization 4, but in a category entirely unrelated to gaming. Skip past the break to hear it for yourself, along with a couple of other favorites of ours.
Harman AKG teams up with Quincy Jones on Signature Line of headphones
Gone is the day when headphones could be respectable without some kind of corporate tie-in or Lady Gaga endorsement. Alas, even Harman's revered AKG division has roped in the venerable Quincy Jones for its new (wait for it) Quincy Jones Signature Line. We're talking three models here, ready for launch in October and ranging from the Q 701 "reference class" over-the-ear cans (pictured), the Q 460 lightweight headphones, and Q 350 buds. The Q 701 features ergonomically-shaped cushions of velvet, an "unbeatable" linear frequency response covering 10Hz to 39.8kHz, a 45-mm high excursion driver, and detachable 99-percent oxygen-free cables. The portable $229.99 Q 460 on-ear headphones feature a 3D-axis folding system and an iPhone compatible in-line remote with microphone and play, pause, and skip functions. The in-ear Q 350 also bring iPhone compatible and target the "audiophile on the go" with $149.99 to burn. Seems fitting for a man with 79 Grammy nominations (and 27 awards) to benefit from his name. And you can feel better about him selling out knowing that an undisclosed sum from every pair of headphones sold goes towards the Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium -- a foundation dediqated to eduqating Ameriqan kids about musiq. Ironic, because the Grammys might actually be relevant if American music corporations knew anything about good music.%Gallery-101028%
Stephen Colbert and his iPad at the Grammys
It must be nice to be the host of your own popular Comedy Central show and a host on the Grammy Awards. Why? You get to play with an iPad. No, it's not one of Tim Meehan's faux iPads - this was a working unit that flipped from portrait to landscape mode when Stephen Colbert pulled it out of his jacket... or pants. Enjoy this short piece of video from tonight's Grammy Award ceremonies.
Grammy winners on the iTunes store
The music industry got together last night to give itself a big old pat on the back. That's right, the Grammy Awards telecast aired yesterday and all the big stars in the music universe were there. The only part I watched was the Police's performance, but if you are interested in owning some of the Grammy winning music head on over to this iTunes page. Apple lists some of the winners (and nominees), which makes it as easy as pie to buy that Grammy award winning track.
