Music Awards in balance after SGAE fall from grace
Revamped academy wants to style annual event on Goyas
Spain's Music Awards, which have been organized by the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Music since their inauguration in 1997, are in danger of not going ahead this year, in large part due to the economic chaos caused by the corruption scandal at the SGAE Society of Authors and Publishers.
SGAE, which controls the Academy, and whose former president, Teddy Bautista, is the main target of a police investigation into the siphoning off of some 400 million euros from the organization, had decided to cancel the event, but it now transpires that the industry is considering giving the awards a facelift.
"We're refurbishing the academy," said Sabino Méndez, its president and spokesman for the SGAE board. "We want to be like the Cinema Academy, integrating all classes of music. We want the next awards to be done by the new academy, not just SGAE: incorporating producers, associations, and independent and international artists. The problem is that it's February... It's clear it's not going to happen in April."
