AWARDS The fast track to a Grammy: It doesn't always pay off

When entering music for the awards, it pays to hedge.
By JIM FARBER
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
They call it a deadline. But when it comes to the Grammys, the term doesn't seem quite so lethal.
The cutoff date for nominations is firmly stated as Sept. 30 of each year. But lately labels have been treating that rule the way Ferris Bueller did the laws of high school.
They've succeeded in sneaking recordings into the competition by using its shipping date rather than its in-store date. Or -- in the case of Barbra Streisand's "The Movie Album" -- by stating that the music was available over the Internet before its official release.
Too bad the plotting doesn't always pan out.
Johnny Cash
Take the case of Johnny Cash.
His final CD, "The Man Comes Around," was officially released on Nov. 5, 2002, five weeks into this year's eligibility period. But, according to a source at Cash's label, the legend's producer and mentor Rick Rubin so wanted the album to be considered by voters while it was fresh that he had the label rush-release a vinyl version in time to make last year's deadline.
At the time, it looked like a good decision. It resulted in three nominations with one win -- Male Country Vocal for the track "Give My Love to Rose."
What no one knew was that the album would become Cash's biggest-selling studio CD in 30 years. Or that it would sweep the Country Music Association Awards. Or that the legend himself would die right around the time voters were casting this year's ballots.
Given those emotional factors, prognosticators (including yours truly) tagged Cash as the guy to beat in all the year's top slots. Instead he got shut out, since the songs and CD had been entered the year before.
Holding back
When it comes to entering music for Grammys, it pays to hedge.
Consider the machinations of Island Records for U2 several years ago. While the band's album "All That You Can't Leave Behind" came out Oct. 31, 2000, its first single "Beautiful Day," hit stores before the Sept. 30 cutoff. The label put up the song, and it wound up winning for Best Record in 1999.
Then, the band took that title again the next year for another track, "Walk On," which hit stores in the later eligibility period.
Paul Simon's company reaped the same windfall in 1986-87. Warners entered his CD "Graceland" for Best Album (it won in '86) and the song "Graceland" for Best Record (it won in '87, the year the single was available for purchase).