The Record of the Year

The Record of the Year is an award voted by the UK public. It was given in conjunction with a television programme of the same name. It became one of the highest rated music TV shows in the UK, boosting sales of CD's in the crucial fortnight before Christmas every year. It remains the only music award in the UK to be chosen by the public.The award began in 1998, and was televised on ITV before being dropped in 2006 after disagreements over the phone voting element. Jonathan King, who created the concept, then presented the award online in 2006 and 2007, which was administered through the [http://www.roty.tv/ award's website] .

Winners

2000

The ten finalists were:

2003

The ten finalists were:

2006

The "Record of the Year" 2006 took place online, instead of ITV.

The ten finalists were:

Votes were compiled on... [http://www.ROTY2006.com "The Record of the Year"]

2007

The final was on Sunday December 16, 2007

The finalists were:

Votes compiled on... [http://www.ROTY.tv "The Record of the Year"]

Criticisms and Praise

Many have criticised the 'Record of the Year' Award, as they feel the nominations are unfairly dominated by pop acts and thus the winner is usually not the "true" record of the year. One suggested reason for this is that it is done to attract young girls, who the organisers are sure will watch the televised final and vote for the records. Others have argued that it is an attempt to boost the sales of pop artists' albums, which traditionally have limited success relative to their singles, in the crucial pre-Christmas period. Of the examples cited as evidence for this, the most famous include the exclusion of rap artist Eminem's "My Name Is..." in 1999 as he was unavailable to perform live on the Record of the Year final and the omission from nominations of rock act The Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" in 2003, despite being one of the highest selling singles of the year.

In spite of this, many winners of the award, as well as the organisers, argue its significance and integrity on the basis that it represents the views of the public, rather than critics. Indeed Westlife have often said that their first win for the single "Flying Without Wings" was the most exciting moment in their career. Unsurprisingly, critics eventually began to say that it was just an award to prove Westlife were still around, hence why Heat Magazine dubbed it "Westlife Record Of The Year" in 2004. However, a counter-argument is that this, and similar awards based on phone polls, are a true representation of public opinion, a possibly better indication than sales, which calls Radio 1's countdown of the 20 best selling singles of the last calendar year a more accurate indication of the record of the year. Still, the chosen tracks on the televised Record of the Year contest reflect the views of the television programme viewers only, and not necessarily the music-buying public at large, who might not phone in multiple times to vote for their favourite song. In contrast, the Radio 1 end-of-year chart includes all music sales in all formats.

This was the basis of the disagreement between ITV, who wanted the revenue from phone calls, and Jonathan King, the creator of the award, who believed that sales no longer reflected true popularity, with millions loving a track but failing to buy it. As a result ITV stopped broadcasting the event in 2006 and it went online.

ponsorship

Below is a list of companies that have sponsored the award since it began

1998-2001: Britannia Music
2002-2005: T-Mobile

Theme Music

From 1998 to 2004, the theme music was the club track "Disco Cop" by "Blue Adonis".

In 2005 ITV used a specially recorded track.

External links

* [http://www.ROTY.TV: "The Record of the Year"]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4069399.stm BBC News: "Busted scoop "Record of the Year"]
* [http://www.tipsheet.co.uk : the Tip Sheet co produces each year with Granada TV]