The just-concluded sophomore edition of the Souncity MVP Awards has received a lot of praises for its near impeccable production. The stage, the program, the hosts and broadcast was simply phenomenal and this makes the event deserving of all the accolade it has received. While we celebrate the production excellence of the award, let’s also weigh in on a couple of loopholes in the awarding system.
A couple of hours after the event, producer Kiddominant went on a twitter blow-out calling out the award organisers over his loss in the ‘Best Producer’ category to Young John. He went on to question the credibility of the award; “I have lost respect for Soundcity. F**k your award”, he proclaimed.
While this rant was uncalled for, the producers claim cannot be dismissed as Kiddominant was the brain behind some of the biggest records of 2017 including Davido’s ‘Fall’ and Mayorkun’s ‘Mama’.
Young John the wicked producer who bagged the award for Best Producer also had a couple of noteworthy hits to his name but…. Kiddominant, well he was on a different level. But who is to blame? No one of course. The rules of the award cited that winners are picked based on votes so whether or not you had a better run than your contenders, the nominee with the highest vote wins.
This is what also played out in the Best Male MVP category that was won Diamond Platnumz against pop heavyweights; Wizkid and Davido. Of course, Diamond is a very fantastic artiste but from a technical angle, his run in 2017 doesn’t quite qualify him for the Best Male act win. Nominees like Wizkid and Davido operated on a whole different level in the year under review; releasing several hit records, shook the continental music sphere and smashed several international records.
Again who is to blame? Soundcity MVP had made it clear that winners would be picked based on votes – so by their rules, Diamond Platnumz’ win was a fair one.
The big question however is; if winners are continually picked based on the number of votes and not necessarily based on the performance level or result of the nominated acts, can we then say the generally understood goal of award shows which is to celebrate/recognize hard work is being met? This rule is not exclusive to the MVP’s as other award events within the country also resort to the voting technique.
Going by the respectable degree of production excellence that the Souncity MVP’s has delivered, one is in high hopes that it will rise to become the ultimate indigenous music award. But to attain this height, a lot of restructuring needs to be done. Obviously, the vote-alone technique isn’t a totally fair option for picking winners as it sometimes plays to the disadvantage of a nominee most deserving of the award.
An easy way out is implementing the voting committee technique. Like it is with the Grammy’s, there is a recording academy that comprises of music professionals who review these nominations before an absolute winner is picked. It would be interesting to see indigenous award shows adopt this technique; where there is a selection process that balances the votes of the public with the verdict of a professional analytic committee in a bid to ascertain a fairer judgement.
One is once again in high hopes of what the MVP’s will pull off in the coming years. Kudo’s on a solid 2017 edition.
Soundcity MVP Awards: Is It Fair Enough To Pick Winners Solely Based On Votes?
Reviewed by Unknown
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04:09
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Reviewed by Unknown
on
04:09
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