QUICK HITS: Grammys, OneOf partner for NFTs • underrepresented jazz at Berklee • Music Venue Trust • more

The Recording Academy and OneOf, the green NFT marketplace built for music and backed by 28-time GRAMMY Award winner Quincy Jones, have partnered to release NFTs that will commemorate the next three annual GRAMMY Awards.

Details on the NFT collections will be revealed in early January ahead of the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 31, 2022. The NFTs will be released as collectibles and experiences celebrating the GRAMMY Awards, nominees, and recipients, including tokens designed by crypto artists using the iconic GRAMMY Award itself.

A portion of the proceeds of the NFTs will go to the Recording Academy’s scholarship fund.

• New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice have launched Next Jazz Legacy, focused on increasing opportunities for women and non-binary improvisers who are underrepresented in the art form.

According to a study of the NPR Music Jazz Critics poll, women made up only 16% of the core band personnel for the albums in the 2019 poll, and the majority of jazz albums ranked included no women musicians at all.

Thanks to funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this program represents a major investment in 20 artists and bandleaders over the next 3 years.  The inaugural class of Next Jazz Legacy artists will include six candidates chosen by an esteemed panel of musicians/

• The Music Venue Trust (MVT), which represents hundreds of grassroots UK music venues and Ticketmaster have agreed to a number of changes to their existing agreement including upgrades to the platform which have resulted in a simplified and more efficient customer experience as well new terms that will see venues now receiving a 50% rebate on all booking fees. 

Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust said, “As we emerge from this crisis, we are delighted to have worked with the Ticketmaster team to further improve the Grassroots Venues Ticket offer. This new deal puts even more money back into venues where it belongs. We will continue to work with Ticketmaster to develop this partnership so that it supports our whole network.”

• Tim & Danny Music and Warner Chappell Music have signed an exclusive worldwide publishing agreement with iconic singer and songwriter Sam Smith through a new joint venture, covering all future works.

The multi-platinum, 4x-Grammy, Brit, Golden Globe and Oscar award-winning global pop star is known for a long list of chart-topping, influential hits such as “Stay With Me,” “I’m Not The Only One,” “Lay Me Down,” “Too Good at Goodbyes,” “Dancing With A Stranger (With Normani),” and more. 

This also signifies the first signing to come from Tim & Danny Music and Warner Chappell Music’s new long-term publishing partnership.

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.