Quantcast

BARNETT ADDRESSES HIS TEAM

The Full Text of CMG Head Coach’s Letter to Staff

Good Morning, everyone.

And it is a very good morning; one that follows an incredible evening in which CMG artists were awarded 12 Grammys and performed before tens of millions of fans during the annual broadcast. It is often called music’s biggest night, and our artists certainly had a very big night.

Sam Smith won 4 Grammys: Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Stay With Me,” Best Pop Vocal Album for In the Lonely Hour, and Best New Artist. He also managed to break all sorts of Grammy records in the process. His four wins are the most by a debut British artist in the 57-year history of the Grammy Awards. He is the first British male to win Best New Artist since 1966 and the first British male debut artist to ever win Record of the Year or Song of the Year. Furthermore, no British male has won in those latter two categories since 1997. Sam’s performance of “Stay With Me” with the incredible Mary J. Blige during the broadcast was certainly one of the show’s most moving moments. All of you have worked so hard on Sam’s behalf these past 18 months, and it is special feeling for all of us to be sharing his journey with him.

Beck won 2 Grammys: Album of the Year and Best Rock Album for his incredible Morning Phase. Many of you will remember first hearing this album early last year when Beck and John Silva were looking for a new label home and had their choice of any company in the business. With our walls practically wet with new paint and our team just beginning to coalesce, we were relentless with Beck and John, determined to win them over and follow through with our pledge to fully support the artist’s work (something we must continue to do in the wake of these Grammy wins). I’m so thankful that they trusted us, and thrilled for Beck that he has won these Grammys. His performance of “Heart Is a Drum” with Chris Martin was beautiful and a standout of the telecast. I also want to note that Morning Phase garnered an additional Grammy in the category of Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

“All of you have worked so hard on Sam’s behalf these past 18 months, and it is special feeling for all of us to be sharing his journey with him.”

Rosanne Cash won 3 Grammys: Best Americana Album for her brilliant The River & the Thread, and Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song for “A Feather’s Not a Bird.” Rosanne is truly an American treasure and her Grammy wins are so well deserved. Let’s do everything we can in the coming weeks and months to remind the American public how special Rosanne is and how The River & the Thread is tremendously worthy of their attention. Kudos to Don Was and Blue Note for leading the charge and building the environment needed to nurture and support artists such as Rosanne.

Robert Glasper won 1 Grammy: Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Jesus Children” from his Black Radio 2 album. This is Robert’s second Grammy in three years, and we couldn’t be happier for this brilliant musician; one of the flagship Blue Note artists.

Smokie Norful won 1 Grammy: Best Gospel Performance Song for “No Greater Love.” This is Smokie’s second Grammy win, which he received almost exactly 10 years after his first. Congratulations to Smokie and to Bill Hearn and everyone at the Capitol Christian Music Group for this Grammy recognition.

We also celebrate with Dominic Pandiscia, Mike Harris and everyone at Caroline as one of their distributed records, Remedy by Old Crow Medicine Show, won the Grammy for Best Folk Album.

All told, CMG artists won 12 Grammys last night, and for the first time in Grammy history, one label swept the big four categories—Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist— with two artists (Sam and Beck).

In addition to the wins and performances I’ve detailed above, let’s cheer again for Katy Perry’s moving and emotional performance of “By the Grace of God,” and Annie Lennox’s show-stopping performance of “I Put a Spell on You” as part of a “Grammy Moment” performance with Hozier. How fortunate we are to have these incredible artists as valued members of our Capitol Music Group family.

Please join me in congratulating all of the artists and their teams who brought home Grammy Gold last night and who performed with such brilliant displays of their talents. Join me also in congratulating all of our nominees who may not have taken home a Grammy, but who still made us proud with their nominations and continue to enrich our lives with their music. And, of course, let us thank Lucian Grainge and his senior management team for their constant support and encouragement for everything we’ve set out to accomplish. We are so fortunate to have them in our corner.

Warmest Regards,

Steve

NEAR TRUTHS: SPRING BLOOMS
Here come the big guns. (3/28a)
THE COUNT: COLDPLAY IS HOT, COUNTRY'S COOKIN' IN THE U.K.
The latest tidbits from the bustling live sector (3/28a)
CITY OF HOPE TAPS MARCIANO FOR TOP HONOR
This year's philanthropic model (3/28a)
TRUST IN THE TOP 20
Hip-hop is no longer hibernating. (3/28a)
UMG BROADENS SPOTIFY OFFERINGS
Sir Lucian and Daniel are in harmony. (3/28a)
THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
 Email

 First Name

 Last Name

 Company

 Country
CAPTCHA code
Captcha: (type the characters above)