020306: Critics choice: ...and the winner is:	Ron, IU
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So the final night of the inaugural Choice Music Prize was a blast on Tuesday night (feb 28th) at Vicar Street. In spite of fears that the event might fall foul of the perception that this was "just another knob-fest" (overheard at the door during 'smoking time') the event attracted a sell-out crowd. By the end of the evening, when the winner was announced to some consternation (mainly from BellX1 fans, I think!), the place was standing room only. Julie Feeney was awarded the prestigious honour of being the first person to receive the new 'gong' but what was more interesting was the reaction of the bands and acts that made it to the final ten nominees. Almost to a man (or woman), the reaction was that the CMP was being taken very seriously and was seen as something fresh, something different, something worthwhile. In comparison to perceptions of the recent Meteors as not much more than an Industry swap-shop ("You take this award and we'll take that one, if you don't mind") for Industry heads - coupled with a cynical money-grab in the form of text-messaging voting schemes - the CMP, despite the obvious limitations imposed by the lack of financing, is a real Musicians award. As stated at the event, it is about everything that the Artist stands for, and nothing to do with commercial success, long-term viability, feasibility studies, market positioning etc that Artists normally have to be concerned about, whether they like it or not. In short, the winner of the Irish Album Of The Year for 2005 was, and will hopefully be accepted as, proof that the whole project should be kept alive and well, and if the Industry has any common sense they will get behind it in financial terms instead of just turning up and blagging all the VIP passes, leaving those of us who actually put the event together over the last five years to piss off home at shortly after midnight. Still, in Ireland's nepotistic and incestuous Music Industry, you just have to grin and bear it when pissed on from a height. Or not? And the winner, Julie Feeney's "13 Songs", will perhaps illustrate that, despite quite a bit of pressure from 'on high', the organisers (Dave Reid and Jim Carroll) plus the judging panel, had paid scant attention to what the Industry wanted in this regard (i.e. Bell X1 didn't win it!). More power to them, and from a personal point of view, I am extremely proud of my own limited involvement in the birth of the project way back when. I am delighted that Dave has finally gotten the thing off the ground. From pacing up and down in a rented office in 'The Factory' about 4 years back, haranguing and hassling various potential judges and various media outlets, to a Finals night that was broadcast for almost 4 hours live on National radio, mentioned on Sky News and RTE news, sold out, blessed by excellent performances from nine of the ten nominees and, more to the point, praised by Artists and music fans alike, my only hope is that those who have benefitted from this event don't forget it when the time comes around to start on next year's one. After all, if this is a one-off, it might be considered a big party but the Industry will have lost itself a huge opportunity to be seen to be at least a little bit credible in this Country. Incidentally, when I say "those who benefitted from the event", I don't only mean the Artists themselves. For example: HotPress and HMV made a huge marketting platform of the event's format. I wonder if they will have anything to offer the Organisers in return? IRMA, the organisation heading the labels and publishers in Ireland, will see it's members sales increase (in fact, they already have increased by up to 700% in some cases) for all ten acts - many of whom would fall under the IRMA umbrella. I wonder if they will follow up on their generous prize-money involvement this year by backing the event for the long term. The same goes for plenty of others, including those who were paid by the event organisers to do a job. Next year, and the next few years, could see the whole project take off. Who knows? Within five years it could be big enough to hold in The Point. Or, knowing Ireland's jealousy-ridden Industry, it could be completely forgotten about. Only music fans and the Industry itself can benefit from it's continued existence so it is up to those two disparate groups to ensure it succeeds. Permanently. One thing that pissed me off a bit other than the lack of passes for us plebs) was that I heard from friends and contacts that there were reports of people walking out in disgust or protest at the announcement of the Winner, presumably because they didn't agree with the Judges? Anyway, two things: first, no winner was ever going to be unanimous. Second, by the time Julie Feeney got back on stage to do her musical "lap of honour", it was 11.10 to 11.15pm. In Dublin. What happens at that time? People leave to catch the last proper bus home and therefore avoid paying NightBus fares or getting a Cab. So, yes, people did leave - perhaps a 100 or so of them, but not in protest. In fact, most had left before Julie began to play the second time around.

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