Steve Stoute explains his reasoning for TIMES ad

The Hollywood Reporter got a hold of Steve Stoute and spoke to him about his logic and reasoning behind putting a $40,000 advertisement in a newspaper...
 
THR: What was the impetus for your open letter to the Grammys? Was it when Arcade Fire won for Album of the Year?
Steve Stoute: What honestly triggered it  was sitting with some really big credible artists after the show, and  hearing them complaining that, “This is crazy,” “We need to start our  own show,” or “This doesn’t make any sense.” For me, it wasn’t Arcade  Fire winning that was the problem, it was them performing twice. After  the backstage moment, the production was set for them to perform again.  But if Eminem had won, would he have performed again? That’s when it was, like, “This is fake now.”
THR: Are you implying that the Grammys are fixed?
Stoute: I’m implying that the Grammys are flawed, and that they need to acknowledge it finally.
THR: And that was the intent of the ad?
Stoute: The intent was to point out that  the popular artists are used to sell the show and to get ratings. In  fact, NARAS publicized that it was the highest rated Grammys since 2001,  yet those same artists are not getting the critical recognition they  deserve. The Grammys didn’t use Esperanza Spalding in the promos to sell the show. They used Justin Bieber and Eminem. Yet Eminem, who’s nominated for 10 awards, doesn’t win Album of the Year. Arcade Fire does. Like when the Marshall Mathers LP, which has sold 19 million  copies around the world and is one of the greatest albums ever made,  lost out to Steely Dan. Or when U2 lost to [the] O Brother, Where Art  Thou? [soundtrack]. It doesn’t stop.
THR: You’ve taken Esperanza Spalding to task in particular…
Stoute: Because there are many people who  hadn’t even heard of her. By the way, this was her third album, not her  first, but she wins Best New Artist over Drake and  Justin Bieber? How did this happen? I was sitting there watching the  awards show with very prominent executives, one of them had to Google  her. And I’m not saying I don’t like her music, because that’s not the  point. What Drake and Justin Bieber did to cut through and become global  brands, it’s hard for anybody to argue that they’re not Best New  Artist.
THR: We’re estimating that the ad cost around $40,000, care to comment?
Stoute: The ad was expensive, but the  price pales in comparison to the torture that artists are going through.  It wasn’t about spending that kind of money. It’s, how could you not  make that statement

Courtesy of Vladtv

Steve Stoute takes ad out in NY Times Sunday paper

Hip hop mogul and advertising exec Steve Stoute has slammed the Grammy awards with a full-page ad in Sunday's New York Times in which he states the ceremony is a "series of hypocrisies and contradictions."
The founder of the Translation advertising company, who is famous for being Nas' on-off manager since 1995, wrote in a column for The Huffington Post that he used the ad as "an open letter" to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), which is behind the Grammys, and to Neil Portnow, the president of NARAS.
Stoute claimed that best-selling artists like Kanye West, Eminem and Justin Bieber were snubbed by a ceremony that had "no qualms" in using the same musicians as performers during the show to "to ensure viewership and to deliver the all-too-important ratings for its advertisers."
In his ad, Stoute said the Grammys' failure stems from "over-zealousness to produce a popular show that is at odds with its own system of voting" and "fundamental disrespect of cultural shifts as being viable and artistic."
He used the example of Eminem's 2001 hit "The Marshall Mathers LP" losing Album of the Year to Steely Dan.
"Not only is Eminem the best-selling artist of the last decade, but The Marshall Mathers LP was a critical and commercial success that sold over 10 million albums in the United States (19 million worldwide), while Steely Dan sold less than 10% of that amount and came and went as quietly as a church mouse," he wrote.
Stoute wrote that Eminem and Kanye West -- whose 2007 album "Graduation" lost Album of the Year to Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters" -- both define a generation.
"It is this same cultural impact that acknowledged the commercial and critical success of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' in 1984," he wrote.
To prove that he wasn't partial to hip-hop artists, Stoute also took issue with Justin Bieber -- "an artist that defines what it means to be a modern artist" -- losing the Best New Artist award to Esperanza Spalding this year.
Towards the end of his ad, Stoute admitted that he was "truly inspired" to pen the letter after Album of the Year winners Arcade Fire performed "Month of May" before accepting their trophies, and then were prepared to perform "Ready to Start" right after.
"Does the Grammys intentionally use artists for their celebrity, popularity and cultural appeal when they already know the winners and then program a show against this expectation?" Stoute asked.
He called NARAS to task for "[hiding] behind the 'peer' voting system" to keep from changing their approach, but he also took issue with the artists who appear to accept defeat.
"And to all of the artists that attend the Grammys: Stop accepting the invitation to be the upset of the year and demand that this body upholds its mission for advocacy and support of artistry as culture evolve," he wrote. "Demand that they change this system and truly reflect and truly acknowledge your art."

Courtesy of nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2011/02/21/2011-02-21_grammys_are_a_series_of_hypocrisies_and_contradictions_hip_hop_mogul_steve_stout.html?r=entertainment