Grammy Awards Affirms Vitality Of New York State's Music Industry

NY-CONNECTED PROJECTS WIN OVER 20 AWARDS; ASSEMBLYMAN JOSEPH LENTOL, NEW YORK IS MUSIC CALL FOR PASSING OF MUSIC PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT TO HELP SUPPORT STATE'S ROBUST MUSIC INDUSTRY

On Monday night, the Empire State Building was lit up in gold to celebrate the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. Despite the show taking place 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles, over twenty Grammys were handed out to artists who chose to work on their projects in New York including Taylor Swift, D'Angelo, Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars, the Cast of Hamilton and many more. NY Is Music (http://nyismusic.org/) extends its congratulations to the GRAMMY winners and to New York State's robust music industry.

This broadly impressive showing highlights the enormous talent and resiliency of New York's creative and technical workforce. It also affirms the viability of New York's world-class studio infrastructure and the behind-the-scenes audio professionals who are vital in the music production process. Winners in such diverse categories as Record and Album of the Year, World Music, R&B, Jazz Vocal, Comedy and Musical Theatre were amongst nearly two dozen who chose to work on their projects either in whole or in part (songwriting, recording, mixing, mastering) in New York.

What makes these Grammy results all the more impressive is that it coincides with a significant, long-term reduction in New York's overall music production volume. In a strongly-worded Op-Ed in Crain's this week, NYS Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol, (D-North Brooklyn) pointed out that from 1999 to 2014, New York's share of recording sessions fell by nearly 50% while other cities and states were benefitting from the growth of their own music economies at New York's expense.

Recognizing that music production is the bedrock of New York's broader music ecosystem, Lentol introduced a bill in 2015 that would create a music production tax credit in New York State, an initiative that NY Is Music supported vocally. The bill, which focuses on creating job opportunities in areas such as audio engineering, recording and mixing, was passed with bipartisan support in the Assembly and he is now calling on the State Senate and Governor Cuomo to make it law.

Read Lentol's op-ed at Crain's New York: bit.ly/1TltYMe

Winners in the following categories worked on their projects either in whole or in part (songwriting, recording, mixing, mastering) in New York:

Record of the Year

Album of the Year

Best Pop/Duo Group

Best Pop Vocal Album

Best Rap Album

Best Rap Performance

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

Best Rap Song

Best R&B Song

Best R&B Album

Best Urban Contemporary Album

Best New Age Album

Best Improvised Jazz Solo

Best Jazz Vocal Album

Best Jazz Instrumental Album

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

Best World Music Album

Best Children's Album

Best Comedy Album

Best Musical Theatre Album

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

Best Arrangement, Instrument and Vocals

About New York Is Music:

Established in 2014, the New York Is Music coalition is dedicated to advancing the importance of music in culture, education and economic development across the city and state. New York Is Music is supported by more than 200 leading music institutions, such as A2IM, ASCAP, the Associated Musicians of Greater New York (Local 802), BMI, Brooklyn Bowl, The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Glassnote Records, Island Records, Live Nation, New York University, The Recording Academy, SESAC, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, VEVO and Warner Music Group.