Atlantic Records May Boycott Grammys

Atlantic Records, reportedly miffed that triple Grammy nominee Marc Cohn was not asked to perform during the awards telecast on Tuesday in New York, plans to boycott the event, according to sources at the label and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, which presents the awards.

“They just felt that with three such important nominations, he should have been part of the show,” said a source who asked not to be identified. Besides a best new artist nomination, the singer-songwriter was also nominated for best song (his hit single “Walking in Memphis”) and best male pop vocal.

A representative for Atlantic Records said Thursday that no one was available to comment on the matter, but sources said the label will not participate in the post-Grammys party given each year by its distributor, Warner-Elektra-Atlantic, and has asked its executives not to attend the Grammy show at Radio City Music Hall. Cohn’s manager, Perry Watts-Russell, could not be reached, but an academy source said that Cohn is expected to attend the show.

Mike Greene, the academy president, would not comment directly on whether a problem exists with Atlantic, but said, “There are at least five different labels who are very upset that their artists aren’t on. It’s this way every year--it’s simply an arithmetic problem in that only so many artists can fit into a three-hour telecast.”

One label source said that some pressure was exerted on Atlantic acts not to attend the show. At press time the only Atlantic artist scheduled to appear on the telecast was David Crosby, as a presenter.