Did anyone attend last night?
No mention on any blogs (including, of course, Music Week's)... nothing on ROTD... nothing in any national paper...

Someone needs to fold this useless publication.

Blackwell got award (wasn't there; video; looked 101).
Bono praised Rob Partridge - neither was there; Bono couldn't be bothered; Rob is dead (like MW).
Duffy was there.
XL won best indie label.
Brixton Academy won best venue.
R2 station of year.
Polydor label of year.
Grosvenor half empty. Terrible atmosphere.
Probably last awards.

I've now spoken to someone who was there who said it was OK, seemed full, decent atmosphere and generally a pleasant evening.

The problem for Music Week is, of course, it always relied on retail and there is no longer any retail.

Plus nobody who gets awards has been heard of by the wider public.

We did, of course, provide a far better and more enjoyable Triumphs in the middle section of the Record of the Year... executives had an excuse to buy expensive tables as their acts were getting massive promotion (280,000 extra CDs sold by Boyzone alone first week).

Extraordinary how negative folk like Blackie can be.

Blackwell received a special as the outstanding executive of the past 50 years-he has hasn't been that well and is in his 70's for f**k's sake.So no , he didn't look the picture of youthful health. Nick Stewart made a gracious speech to back up a snappy ,appropiately fulsome film. Rob PARTRIDGE was a true great of our business as regards press liasion and U2 owed him a great deal in those early days.They, Courtney Pine and Tom Waits paid their tributes and his widow Tina received the Stat Award from Billy Bragg. Moving and proper.

Jim Chancellor and Liz Goodwin recived awards for their work on Elbow -well deserved .The Record business needs a night to celebrate the workers ,those who deliver results for their artists so I for one hope it isn't the last one.

I've now spoken to several attendees - mixed feelings and reviews.

I thoroughly approve of awards to industry people as long as they are informed and hopefully come with intelligence and not sycophancy inspired by expenditure.

The beauty of The Tip Sheet was that it blended honest criticism with praise and kept those often slack and lazy but sometimes inspired executives on their toes. They knew they could never buy compliments.

It was good, well staged and presented, Jeremy Vine did a very good professional job with a traditionally difficult audience. There was genuine enthusiasm for quite a lot of both nominees and winners. The Rob Partridge award was very well received and was a particularly touching moment. The Blackwell award was well done by The Captain and well received as was Duffy presenting her manager with an award without her prior knowledge. Highlight of course was Barbara Charone letting those that didn't already know the magnificent Chelsea Liverpool result (best part of the evening!)as she picked up her award.

Despite the late selling of tickets it was busy in there and still almost impossible to move between the tables. For an Industry event as opposed to one for public consumption, it was a good night. Obviously it's easy to have a dig at the merits of the actual awards but they are for rewarding those in the business and the quality of work they've carried out. They are not meant to appeal to those outside the business.

Terrylamps has got it virtually spot on. Attendance was lower. There were no tables either under or on the balcony, nor any table located where you come down the sweeping staircase at the side. But that probably means 10-15% less tables than a "full-house".

I was there; about 20% down but Vine was good. Big Universal attendance but then they are the dominant company.

Pleasant enough evening ran smoothly but I do fear there will be changes by 2010.

Interesting - at least here people are discussing it.

Nothing on Record of the Day. Nothing on The Velvet Rope.

Virtually nothing on Music Week forums.

Incidentally although I would bow down to Chris Blackwell (his Brit Records, long before Island, inspired UK Records) I wonder - was my name amongst the other 19 nominees? If not, why not?

Vile Pervert.

And Publisher of the Year? EMI? Indie Publisher? Kobalt? Who's Kobalt?
Music Week clearly never heard of Bocu.
Which is odd considering 2008.

JK - Your name wasn't amongst the 20.
But ask your friends on the selection committee.

Bocu must have had a good year. Thank You For The Music, amongst others!

I was there and felt that when Ferdy grabbed the mic to thank staff for their contribution to Polydor, a passing mention and thanks to Colin Barlow - responsible for 99% of the success - might have been polite and well deserved.

Did you forget him Ferdy? I know he logs on here every day (I work at Universal).