Had Avril Lavigne not garnered the most Juno nominations this year, something would be wrong. Her sophomore album is multi-platinum, every single she released became a hit, and she sold-out nearly all of her shows.

So when the nominations were announced Monday morning, it was no surprise she received five, more than any other artist.

But what if those people who had input on who got nominated were locked up in a room for a year with no access to the outside world? What if all that was provided for them was food, drinks, and the CDs released this year by Canadian recording artists? What if they had no idea Avril sold more albums than any other Canadian artist and had to judge each CD based on quality, not buzz or commercial triumph?

What if? Nothing.

Avril would still be getting the same amount of nominations. k-os, who deserved far more than three nominations, would still get just three.

Why? Because most of the categories are based on sales, not quality. Lyrics, beats, voices, raps, effort; none of that matters at the Junos. Marketing, publicity, making the artist into a brand name; there’s where it counts.

The release of k-os’ “Joyful Rebellion” at the end of the summer earned him rave reviews. It didn’t equal the commercial success of Avril’s “Under My Skin,” but it easily became the highest selling hip hop album of the year.

“Joyful Rebellion” was the best Canadian CD released in 2004, hands down. But because Canada’s pop and rock fans outnumber the amount of hip hop fans (or at least because Avril’s fans outnumber k-os’ fans), k-os was not eligible for most of the top categories, including: Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Pop Album of the Year (its crossover appeal into the mainstream would have made him a contender in the pop category, much like Outkast).

So competing for Artist of the Year will be Celine Dion, Bryan Adams, Diana Krall, k.d. lang, and Avril Lavigne. If any of those artists released a CD full of musical trash, they would have enough fans buying it to automatically earn them a handful of nominations. To be fair, the albums released by those five artists were not crap, but not one of those artists got as much critical praise as k-os.

k-os got his three nominations in categories that were chosen by the experts: Rap Recording of the Year, Video of the Year for B-Boy Stance, and Single of the Year for Crabbuckit.

If the Junos want to accurately showcase the best of Canadian music, they need to change the way nominees are selected. k-os is just one artist?the most deserving?who was penalized by the rules governed by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). Ron Sexsmith, Sarah Sleen, Rufus Wainwright, Kyprios, Jacksoul, Tamia… just a few artists who earned nominations but not enough.

Congratulations Avril; you will be adding a few Juno Awards to your collection on April 3, but when you thank your fans, make sure you mean it, because they voted for you when they forked over $20 to buy your album.






Related Stories: