After initially announcing that its annual music awards would take place this fall, the locally based national music magazine Alternative Press has now made it official that it'll not host an awards program in 2018.
The magazine successfully launched the Alternative Press Magazine Awards in 2014 with an outdoor concert at Voinovich Park. The awards moved to the Q in 2015 and then to Shottenstein Center in Columbus the following year because the Q was being used for the Republican National Convention.
Last year’s event was slated to take place at the Q but was shifted to the State Theatre at the last minute because of production issues.
AP publisher Mike Shea says he’s not sure if and when the next APMAs will happen.
“It isn’t the right time for an awards,” says Shea via phone. “As the year went on, it just didn’t feel right. There are more important things happening in the world right now. It felt narcissistic."
Shea went to on to say that the magazine's young demographic is currently "very vulnerable" and that he'd rather put on a concert that speaks to the social and political climate.
"How do you disrupt the award show format?" he says. "Viewership is down on TV for awards shows. You can never get the right host or the right bands. We want to do something that makes a difference. We had some pockets of people we would work with, but we weren’t feeling it. Everyone was so distracted by everything that’s going on. These mass events aren’t as popular, and smaller boutique things are more popular. We’ve been working on things like that. I didn’t talk [to the media] about the show because my head has been wrapped up in what’s been going on in the world. I don’t want to do it just to do it. I want it to be impactful and meaningful.”
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