Celebs hired to boost Gramophone Awards.(News)

The Gramophone Awards are being given another overhaul this year with half a dozen celebrities hired to champion a reduced shortlist in a bid to maximise retail exposure--and sales.

The move, which Gramophone magazine's editor James Jolly describes as a bid to "reconnect with the whole business of records", will create a Booker Prize-style ceremony by replacing the annual live music Barbican awards with two events that bookend a four-week promotional blitz.

Jolly says the new event is aimed at widening the existing audience through the participation of the celebrities who will each champion one short-listed release. In a further move to focus the record buyers' attention this year, the number of awards has also been rationalised to just three--record of the year, lifetime achievement and artist of the year--compared to more than a dozen gongs in previous years. Meanwhile, the awards have been brought forward to avoid the Christmas period following advice from retailers.

Jolly also hopes that the ...