"Krone" commentary

Amadeus Awards: The prize deserves better

Via Tiktok, Carinthian Rian has played his way into the hearts of the fans - and is hoping for several Amadeus Awards.

(Bild: Mario Wallner)

The 25th Austrian Amadeus Music Awards ceremony will take place on Friday evening in Vienna's Marx-Halle. Earlier in time and in a different location than in previous years. The problems sometimes remain the same - it is not possible to make the award prestigious and accessible to the general public.

In May, the Amadeus celebrates its 40th birthday - but not the Music Award, but the song "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco, still the only German-language song to reach the top of the singles charts in the USA and England. While Falco's nimbus is still not being scratched in this country, the only Austrian music award has already taken a few knocks. Franz Pleterski, President of the organizer IFPI, recently announced that everyone knows the Amadeus and that it is indispensable. A bold assessment.

By "everyone" he can only mean the scene bubble. Last year, the show, which was broadcast on ORF (time-shifted), landed a veritable belly flop with 124,000 viewers, while high-calibre artists such as Wanda, Christopher Seiler and RAF Camora were conspicuous by their absence. This year, the statuette award ceremony was moved from the end of April to the beginning of March and from the Volkstheater to the clunky Marx-Halle. Four-time nominee Bibiza is playing 3.3 kilometers away in the Vienna Gasometer on the same evening (update: he had to postpone to April 11 due to illness), while local figureheads Seiler and Speer are playing in glamorous Ludwigsburg. You don't have to understand it, you can't really.

There is potential for improvement all round, which has been addressed for years and just as vehemently ignored. Long-standing industry insiders are not part of the pre-nomination teams, artists sometimes seem to be randomly assigned to genre categories and the presentation of the award ceremony has been following a pattern for some time, which is only rudimentarily adapted. While last year's award ceremony on ORF was programmed after the popular "Big Chance", this time it happens after the tune-in show for the new season of "Dancing Stars". If the Amadeus did not draw on the high viewing figures of the audience favorite this year, this would once again be indicative of the award ceremony. After 25 years, the award deserves better - on all fronts.