With just a week until the 2024 Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award ceremony, Ticketmaster is proud to support this celebration of Scottish talent. On 24th October at Stirling’s Albert Halls, the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) will crown this year’s winner and celebrate the Shortlist. As sponsors, we had the chance to speak with Robert Kilpatrick, CEO of SMIA, about the award’s impact on Scottish music and its role in supporting artists.
Could you share what The SAY Award is and its significance?
“The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award is Scotland’s national music prize which exists to celebrate the cultural impact and contribution of outstanding Scottish albums. It offers a £20,000 prize for the winner and nine runner-up prizes of £1,000 each. Dispensing with categorisation, The SAY Award offers a bold and unifying platform where the best Scottish albums – regardless of sales, genres or label affiliation – can be celebrated, discovered and championed.”
How does The SAY Award contribute to the Scottish music scene and the wider music landscape?
“I think The SAY Award plays a really important role in the Scottish music scene. It’s an annual chance for us to reflect on who we are as a nation, as well as the strength and diversity of our recorded output. Rather than simply a competition, I think across the board, our music community sees The SAY Award much more as a celebration. From driving audience development to instilling civic pride to recognising and rewarding artistic endeavour, it’s a fundamental part of the support infrastructure for our world-class artists and the industry that works to support them.”
The SAY Award highlights both established artists and emerging talent. How does this dual focus foster the growth of Scotland’s music industry?
“I think this is one of the best things about the award, and what makes it so interesting and exciting every year. Rather than our Longlist and Shortlist only comprising the most commercially successful records of the last 12 months, The SAY Award instead focuses on artistic merit and the album as an art-form. Due to this, some of Scotland’s biggest artists are often nominated alongside artists who are at a much earlier stage in their career, and across a wide range of genres. It means that when we announce the nominees each year, a cross-pollination of audiences occurs, with music fans often engaging in outstanding records that they may otherwise not have heard.
I often think back to 2015, which was the first SAY Award I worked on. Kathryn Joseph’s heartbreakingly beautiful debut ‘Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I’ve Spilled’ won that year, and I remember Paolo Nutini speaking about how much he had fallen in love with it, calling it “spellbinding.” This kind of thing is what it’s all about – creating a space for a mutually supportive environment, and driving the intrinsic sense of community that underpins our scene.”
How do partnerships, such as ours, enhance The SAY Award and support the wider Scottish music industry?
“The SAY Award wouldn’t exist without the invaluable support of our partners. Across our 4-month campaign, partnership support allows us to deliver a wide range of activations to bring outstanding Scottish records to new audiences, as well as deliver our award Ceremony which sees our music community come together.
The past few years have been tough for our sector, with a wide range of financial challenges making delivering projects like The SAY Award increasingly difficult to deliver. In hard times for the industry, projects like SAY which support artists are more important than ever, so we’re incredibly grateful to Ticketmaster and our wider SAY partners for their ongoing commitment to the continued value of music and the arts in Scotland.”
What inspired the creation of the Sound of Young Scotland Award and the Modern Scottish Classic Award, and how do these new categories reflect the evolution of Scottish music?
“In 2021, to mark 10 years of The SAY Award, we introduced two additional prizes to accompany the Scottish Album of the Year. One shines a spotlight on Scottish music’s bright future (the Sound of Young Scotland Award), and the other on its rich past (the Modern Scottish Classic Award).
The Sound of Young Scotland Award is all about supporting the next generation of Scottish talent. Supported by Help Musicians, the Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative through Creative Scotland and Youth Music, the Sound of Young Scotland Award provides a young and emerging artist with a funding package worth up to £10,000 to support the creation of their debut album. The five finalists and eventual winner are chosen by a judging panel comprised of former SAY Award nominees.
The Modern Scottish Classic Award was designed to be artist-led; paying heartfelt recognition to outstanding albums from Scotland’s past that inspire music being made in Scotland today. Each year, the 20 artists who make up The SAY Award Longlist are tasked with determining the winner. We’re delighted to see ‘Grit’ by Martyn Bennett recognised this year, following on from ‘These Streets’ by Paolo Nutini (2023), ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’ by Cocteau Twins (2022) and ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ by Frightened Rabbit (2021).”
What message would you share with the next generation of artists aspiring to be SAY Award winners?
“Scottish music is the soundtrack and stories of our lives. Our lives and our stories matter, and the role that our artists play in providing music fans with the opportunity to reflect on who they are individually – and who we are as a nation – is truly invaluable.
Whilst there’s no denying that there’s key challenges facing our sector at present, things will get better. Thanks for capturing the magic, and know that we (the SMIA) are here to support you throughout your journey. If you haven’t already, you can join our membership community of over 5,000 artists and industry professionals – for free – at smia.org.uk.”
As proud sponsors, we look forward to celebrating Scotland’s remarkable music talent at the SAY Award Ceremony next week and hope to see everyone there.
