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Music

Kaytranada Calls Canadian Music Scene "Out of Touch" After JUNO Awards Disqualification

"They disqualified my juno nomination because the song is old actually, but them muthafuckas didnt know like wtf"
Photo by Chieff Bosompra

Canadian DJ and producer Kaytranada took to Twitter Friday afternoon, calling the Canadian music scene "out of touch" after learning his song "At All" was disqualified by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Science for Dance Recording of the Year at this year's JUNO Awards.

A CARAS press release sent out shortly after reads, "During the initial review following the nominee announcement, it was discovered that Kaytranada's "At All" was originally released outside of the 2016 JUNO eligibility period (September 1, 2014 – November 13, 2015) and therefore does not qualify."

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Will Cole, Kaytranada's manager said in a statement emailed to THUMP: "To us, this is just another example of the Canadian music scene being out of touch. The JUNOs should have caught this issue before nominating him for this national award. We are disappointed, and I hope that they can correct their process so this doesn't happen to any other young Canadian artists."

The other nominees in the category include A-Trak's "We All Fall Down" (featuring Jamie Lidell), Keys N Krates' "Save Me" (featuring Katy B), Sleepy Tom and Diplo's "Be Right There," with Borgeous and Lights' "Zero Gravity" replacing "At All."

The producer's not the first artist to criticize the award show this year—on Tuesday night, Grimes called attention to the lack of women nominees in a series of since-deleted tweets.

Shoutout to the Canadian music scene for being so out of touch
— KAYTRA (@KAYTRANADA) February 5, 2016

they disqualified my juno nomination because the song is old actually, but them muthafuckas didnt know like wtf
— KAYTRA (@KAYTRANADA) February 5, 2016

and thats what i mean about them being out of touch, they couldve put my most recent song
— KAYTRA (@KAYTRANADA) February 5, 2016

like forreal Canada, i want my recognition. You cant do me like that.
— KAYTRA (@KAYTRANADA) February 5, 2016 i've lot my respect to the Junos, cause they don't know what they're nominating. They need more kids in their offices to take care of that.
— KAYTRA (@KAYTRANADA) February 5, 2016

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Read Cole's full statement below:

First off, I would like to say that when the nominations were announced, myself and Kaytranada were honoured. For years his career has flourished outside of Canada without much major home town support. Finally we felt like the Canadian music business was supporting him.Kaytranada's music distribution in Canada for this release was done by Ultra Records.

When Ultra Music notified me that this song was nominated for a JUNO, the first question I asked was why. We released this song in 2013. Ultra submitted this song to the JUNOs without permission from Kaytranada, or myself.

To us, this is just another example of the Canadian music scene being out of touch. The JUNOs should have caught this issue before nominating him for this national award. We are disappointed, and I hope that they can correct their process so this doesn't happen to any other young Canadian artists.

This coming year Kaytranada has a lot going for him. He will be releasing his debut album on XL Recordings, and he recently signed a publishing deal with Rick Rubin/Pulse Recordings. There are many new records coming that will be eligible for awards, and I hope that the Canadian music business will be able to support him properly this time around. If they don't however, we will not be bothered. Award nominations are not what we strive for. Stay tuned… 99.9% is on it's way.