BILLBOARD: SOUND & VISION

Billboard.com put together this dope article on the top 10 producers controlling the music business and airwaves.

Read it here

"Songwriter Carole Bayer Sager told Time that Martin "brings one of the most extraordinary pop sensibilities to come along in a very long time." Likewise, Simon Cowell told the magazine, "If you've got Max Martin, you have a better chance of having a worldwide hit than with anyone else."

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When Warner declined to sign Lady Antebellum, Paul Worley left the label and produced the act's self-titled 2008 debut album, which included "I Run to You," the No. 1 country song of 2009 and Grammy winner for best country performance by a duo or group. Worley then produced Lady A's second album, 2010's "Need You Now." It cleaned up at the 2011 Grammys, winning best country album, while its title track-which he co-wrote with the group-took record of the year, song of the year and best country song.

Whoever the A&R is who turned down Lady Antebellum must be suicidal...

MAKING THE PRODUCER: DIDDY & T-PAIN

I can't see the expression on the keyboardist's face but it seems like he's catching feelings when Diddy's talking smack to him.

NEYO AND WEEZY FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR?

The official Grammy nominations have been unleashed and surprisingly they're pretty on-point.

Neyo's Year of The Gentleman and Lil Wayne's Carter III are two of the nominees for the Album Of The Year category, although I think this one will end up in the hands of Coldplay.

The most interesting category to me is the Producer Of The Year, which I'm serially confused by. Here are this years nominees:

Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical
(A Producer's Award. (Artists names appear in parentheses.))

• Danger Mouse
  
• Attack & Release (The Black Keys) (A)
  
• Modern Guilt (Beck) (A)
  
• The Odd Couple (Gnarls Barkley) (A)
  
  
  
• Nigel Godrich
  
  
• In Rainbows (Radiohead) (A)
  
  
  
• Johnny Karkazis (Johnny K)
  
  
• Big Bad World (Plain White T's) (A)
  
• The Illusion Of Progress (Staind) (A)
  
• Light From Above (Black Tide) (A)
  
• 3 Doors Down (3 Doors Down) (A)
  
  
  
• Rick Rubin
  
  
• Death Magnetic (Metallica) (A)
  
• Home Before Dark (Neil Diamond) (A)
  
• Mercy (Dancing For The Death Of An Imaginary Enemy) (Ours) (A)
  
• Seeing Things (Jakob Dylan) (A)
  
• Weezer (Red Album) (Weezer) (A)
  
  
  
• Will.I.Am
  
  
• American Boy (Estelle Featuring Kanye West) (T)
  
• Encanto (Sergio Mendes) (A)
  
• Funky Bahia (Sergio Mendes Featuring will.i.am & Siedah Garrett) (T)
  
• In The Ayer (Flo Rida Featuring will.i.am) (T)
  
• Pick It Up (Fergie) (T)
  
• Picture Perfect (Chris Brown Featuring will.i.am) (T)
  
• What's Your Name (Usher Featuring will.i.am) (T)

Don't get me wrong, I love Will.I.Am, he's amazing, but I feel like he is only nominated in support of the "American Boy" Song Of The Year nomination. Bar one, all the credits I see listed below his name are for tracks (not to mention only three of these were singles), so if that is the body of work they're judging by then why are producers such as Timbaland and Stargate and many others overlooked? Lets take a look:

Timbo may not have had as successful of a year as he did in 2007 but he still managed to produce a bulk of Madonna's album, an enormous hit with One Republic "Apologize", singles for Keri Hilson, Ashlee Simpson, Flo Rida & Matt Pakora, and a few tracks for Pussycat Dolls.

Stargate produced the first three singles from Neyo's Album Of The Year nominated Year Of The Gentleman, hit singles for Jennifer Hudson and Rihanna and album cuts for Usher, Michelle Williams, Nas, Jazmine Sullivan, Kelly Rowland, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Beyonce, David Archuleta and many others.

Go here for the full list of nominations