The Spellemannpris inequality

...or Spellemannprisen, as the proper name for the Norwegian Music Award is, I guess. Watched some of the award show on Saturday, and it was more than a little bit awkward. First of all, if you check out the nominees and winners in the link above, you'll no doubt notice that there is a multitude of categories - 27 in fact - and on average four nominees per category. You'll also notice that several names appear as winners and/or nominees in several categories.

Did I mention that Spellemannprisen is an annual award?

Considering the size and depth of the pool of recording Norwegian artists, it appears that the Spellemannpris committee/jury uses the following inequality when determining the number of categories (three new ones this year):

N(categories) year X > [N(released records) year X / 4]

It's fairly obvious from the lack of correlation between getting Spellemannprisen and any kind of international success that the event should be held less frequently, like every five years or so. That way, the prize would perhaps have some meaning and credibility, rather than the "Everybody's a winner.....only not" mom-and-pop, soda shoppe feel it's presently got. It's ok for the Grammys to have a gazillion categories, because the number of released records vastly exceeds the sum of categories and nominees. In Norway, not so much.

Case in point; checketh out the winner for "Best Video" - Madcon's "Liar":

This is even among the best videos produced for Norwegian artists in 2008? We've got: 1) A high school setting. 2) Cheerleaders doing tired-ass routines in skimpy outfits. 3) Presumably the same skanks - pardon me; "glamour models" - playing volleyball and later being in their underwear or less in the girl's locker room and showers, where they are joined by Madcon, and towel-pulling pranks etc. ensue. Natch, the skanks are stereotypical music video fare, meaning that they're unemployed after the age of 25, and when they eventually kick the bucket, they have to be recycled in three different bins. The only factors missing from this being a rap-video-by-the-numbers was the absence of a jumping lowrider, Cristal and a black leather couch.

THIS is groundbreaking for Norwegian music videos in 2008/09? Mötley Crüe, Poison, W.A.S.P etc. really were ahead of their time, then.