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| Angela Durden, singer, songwriter, and defender of Grammy CEO Neal Portnow. |
As a member of the Grammy organization, on February 15, 2018, I received an email from the Executive Committee on behalf of the Board in which was a link to a letter to the members apologizing on behalf of the CEO and President, Mr. Neal Portnow.
[You can read that letter in full here.]
It took the Executive Committee exactly 780 words to tie Portnow to the tracks and let the Radical Feminist train destroy him.
I found an article on Variety.com that summarized his grave sin and the open letter to Portnow from 21 female music business executives, all of whom I assume are hard-charging and powerful.
In reply to a question asked by a reporter as to how women can move forward in the music industry, Portnow was accused of making a comment that "was spectacularly wrong and insulting...." [You can read that letter in its entirety here.]
But what did Portnow say that was so wrong? He said women "who want to be musicians, engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level [need] to step up."
And just like that, Neal Portnow is a woman-hating and LGBTQ-phobe pariah.
"Step up." Portnow did not say anything else. He left it to the women to decide how they could do that because Portnow is an enlightened male who believes that women are strong and smart and powerful and can make it happen.
Certainly these 21 accusers do that everyday, and would readily admit they worked hard to get where they are.
Something in this whole story stinks.
While I've disagreed with Neal on certain things (EX: Grammy on the Hill is a waste of time and organization resources and does not solve the real problem of protection of creatives' rights), I have never questioned Portnow's sincerity in wanting what is best for his industry and, most notably, those who are creatives.
I'll give you my opinion on this matter. Since I've been a member of Grammy for several years, talk to many winners and board members, and read everything about the organization I get my hands on, I believe this opinion to be accurate.
Therefore, I am almost certain we are seeing a power grab nicely timed to take advantage of the #MeToo movement that has quickly devolved to a damn warlock hunt. I can almost guarantee that somewhere behind the scenes, Neal rightly trod some nasty and sensitive female toes who hatched a payback plan and served up vengeance cold.
What are the music business' bigger problems?
These 21 powerful women are fully aware that all artists and songwriters — whether Indie or signed — and Independent and small publishers are screwed over every day of the week and three times on Sunday. When it comes to ownership of intellectual property rights, payment of earned royalties, 360 Deals, and more, The Majors, The Bigs, and Tech Giants have stolen, cheated, lied, and maybe even murdered their way to quarterly earnings statements stockholders love.
Everybody knows this. Books have been written on the subject.
And Neal Portnow is the bad guy? I think not.
Women are conflicted.
Women march in the streets and send letters and share cute hashtags that say "We Are Strong and Creative and Smart!" and "Men! You Must Accept That We Are Strong and Creative and Smart!"
So when a man finally says, "Yeah, you are strong, so find a solution", women want men to find the solution as they continue to complain no solution has been found. Whiners.
The problem, though, is that women have not defined what the real problem is in the music business. They want men to guess. They want men to define the problem so they can disagree with them and call them names and blame the man for their failure.
I know more men who failed to succeed in the music business than there are women who have ever tried to get in it. Look. The music business is extremely difficult even if there were no dirty deeds. It's because we are all jockeying for position for a limited amount of ticket and merch dollars.
But another little dirty secret is this: There is a massive amount of women who want to be rewarded for feeling creative, but they don't want to do the work to make it happen.
Uh, oh. Angela just stepped in it.
Call me a liar. Call me a traitor to the Women's Movement. Call me whatever you want. But guess what? I've seen it now for over six years, up close and personal. I've made business appointments with women who call themselves Artists and they do not show up. One women kept calling and rescheduling but did not show up six times in a row. By the third time she punked out on me, I simply wanted to see how long she would play her game.
She fell silent for three years, then here it came: Hi, let's get together and do a project.
I did not reply.
I've talked to a lot of production facilities and producers who hate working with the Female Artist because they cannot be relied upon to show up, or if they do show up, they aren't prepared. These folks cannot believe I come prepared and ready to work. And I'm on time, if not early. They love it. Then they tell me about how they hate working with women, even as work-for-hire, because they don't show up.
Sure, there are some men who are unreliable, too, but I've had more women stand me up than men. Of every project I've been involved in, only two had women and they showed up because I paid them damn good money to sing as a work-for-hire. Though they had ample opportunity to be prepared, neither came ready to work, thus increasing studio time costs and pushing my schedule behind.
So, Mr. Portnow, if you are reading this — and I hope you do — please know that one female is proud of you for telling women to find a solution to the problem. You did not do anything wrong. The Board members are weenies. I bet I don't get invited to re-up next year. And, with that, I leave you the following video:
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