Grammys!

Yes, the music industry's most prestigious award is back. The best of the best will be awarded a tiny gold phonograph for their achievements in making glorious melodies.

Or do they?

In a world where more and more music is discovered through Youtube and less through actually going out and seeing bands perform live, the condition that rules music domination, is exposure and airplay. We've seen so many artists being discovered through channels like Spotify and SoundCloud that live performance is becoming a less important avenue to music labels in looking for the next great thing.

Yet, in this writer's humble opinion, it is exactly the ability to entertain and exhilarate that should be the deciding factor in signing an artist/band. Concerts are the ultimate way of paying homage to one's musical idol, especially in this day and age where music is being downloaded so easily off torrents and P2P sharing programs. Concerts are the only true way to gauge an artist's talents, and I am sure that every person that has been to a concert would agree.

So much is made of autotune, which is a tool producers use to enhance the tone or pitch of a singer. In other words, it is the Photoshop of the music world. Music is perhaps the one field that has gone backwards with the advances of technology. Back in the day, when large black discs were the only way of distributing music, manipulating sound was almost a miracle. Then, singers had to be really good. I mean, really! There was no distortion of melodies to ensure that they sounded perfect, it all came from the mouths. Arethra Franklin, Shaka Khan, they were ladies with amazing powerhouse vocals that earned the respect of so many.

These days, can we really call anyone powerhouses anymore? Is there truly an amazing voice that can blow audiences away, bring them to their feet?

I am a skeptic. I need to see it to believe it. Or this case, hear it.