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September 10, 2001 The Latin Grammy Awards (continued)
Executives at Sony Music and BMG said the Latin Grammys is a venue that can overcome barriers of language, genre and country. Martin's 1999 performance on the long-running U.S. Grammy awards program mightily boosted sales of his self-named album and other recordings and was widely seen as making the Puerto Rican native an international star. Last year, on the first Latin Grammys broadcast, a performance by Shakira won legions of new fans for the singer-songwriter from Colombia. 'I think being nominated is key,' said Frank Welzer, president, Latin America, at Sony Corp's Sony Music International. 'I think winning is important. But performing is the thing.' Welzer said payoffs come quickly for breakout performers, with increased sales of recordings in the weeks after the annual Latin Grammys, and large audiences over the long term. 'If you have a dynamite performance like Ricky or Shakira, you have results,' Welzer said. 'It's not just a sales spike. It becomes a building block in an artist's career.' - Associated Press 2000's First Annual Latin Grammy Award show was the first prime-time, primarily Spanish and Portuguese-language telecast on American TV, and probably the most high-profile celebration of Latin culture ever on the domestic airwaves. It drew 7.5 million viewers in the States and millions more worldwide. As evidenced by 2000's inaugural ceremony, the chief goal of the Latin Grammy Awards is to recognize excellence and create a greater public awareness of the cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists, both Stateside and internationally. The Latin Grammy nominees and winners are chosen via the same exacting process as the Grammy Awards. The Latin Grammy Awards recognize artistic and/or technical achievement, not sales figures or chart positions, with the winners determined by the votes of their peers - the qualified voting members of the Latin Academy. The Latin Grammy Awards structure includes 39 award categories, including four general categories: Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist. There are also 11 other fields: Pop, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock, Tropical, Regional Mexican, Traditional, Jazz, Brazilian - Portuguese Language, Children's, Classical, Production and Music Video. As the Grammys have evolved over the years, the Latin Grammys will continually refine and add categories to reflect the artistic growth within the Latin music world. Through active participation, Latin Recording Academy members in over 15 countries ensure that the programs and activities of the Latin Recording Academy are current and relevant to the industry, while also guaranteeing the integrity of the Awards process as a 'peer' honor that celebrates the achievements of all styles and genres of Latin music. - www.grammy.com |
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The Latin Grammys are probably the most high-profile celebration of Latin culture ever on the domestic airwaves. Broadcast of the first Awards in 2000 drew 7.5 million viewers in the States and millions more worldwide. - www.grammy.com |
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