Grammys move in on movie fans

If you go to the movies this week, before you settle in to watch a potential Academy Award winner, odds are good that you’ll hear music or see a video from a potential Grammy winner.

The recording academy has partnered with Movie Tunes, an L.A.-based company that supplies movie theaters across the country with pre-movie entertainment, for a new program highlighting Grammy-nominated acts.

“Not only will it bring more attention to the awards show and the nominees, but also to the contributions the recording academy makes to communities everywhere,” said David Forman, founder of Forman Bros. Recordings, which is working on the campaign with the academy and Movie Tunes.

So how much more attention is needed for an event that’s broadcast in 166 countries to a worldwide audience of nearly 700 million? Evidently, every little bit helps. So ahead of this year’s Feb. 13 awards show from Staples Center, the movie campaign, which runs through February, may help reach segments of the populace that remain TV-less.

The promos will be seen in theaters in the top 200 markets across the country that are Movie Tunes clients. The company estimates that it reaches more than 1 billion moviegoers a year with the music it puts in theaters.

Starting Tuesday, film fans who like what they hear before the lights go down in their local multiplex will have the added option of heading to the record store for a copy of the 11th “Grammy Nominees” CD, which includes 21 of the performances from the highest-profile categories.

The genres represented include rap, rock, punk, pop and country, and artists such as Kanye West, Usher, Maroon 5, Joss Stone, Ray Charles and Norah Jones. Some choices for the CD are obvious (Charles and Jones’ duet “Here We Go Again,” nominated for record of the year; new artist nominee Gretchen Wilson’s breakthrough single, “Redneck Woman”), others less so (West’s “Through the Wire” from his album “The College Dropout” rather than his song of the year nominee, “Jesus Walks”).

Five-time Grammy winner Jones holds the distinction of being the only performer with two cuts, with “Sunrise” from her “Feels Like Home” album as well as the duet from Charles’ “Genius Loves Company” collection.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to charity.