The 63rd Grammy Awards takes place tonight at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Nominees for Best Reggae Album are One World by The Wailers, It All Comes Back to Love by Maxi Priest, Upside Down 2020 by Buju Banton, Got to Be Tough by Toots and The Maytals and Higher Place by Skip Marley. This category has always been of particular interest to the local audience. However, this year, one member of the reggae fraternity is in an unprecedented position.

Brian Greenspoon, owner and president of Spoonfed Entertainment, marketed and promoted albums by three of the nominees — Maxi Priest, Toots and The Maytals and Skip Marley.

He described the Best Reggae Album field in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

“This year’s Best Reggae Album category is deservedly dominated by some of the iconic names of the genre, so we are proud to also see an entry of the next generation of young lions being recognised among the greats. Next year, we would love to see more female representation,” he shared.

For obvious reasons Greenspoon steered clear from naming a winner. He, however, pointed to the strengths of each of his clients which sets them apart in the Best Reggae Album category and could push them over the edge to take home the coveted award.

“For Maxi Priest it is definitely the longevity of his career and his international appeal. Toots recorded an album which became an instant classic. Without a doubt it stands up against all of his previous works that have become classics. Then there is Skip Marley who represented the present and future of the genre. He is taking the music to new places and his EP Higher Place represents that,” he said.

Having been part of entertainment for nearly 20 years, Greenspoon is no stranger to the music industry, and is the former marketing executive at VP Records and Elektra Records. He shared that each artiste has to be viewed individually and added that working with Maxi Priest, Toots and The Maytals and Marley “required a different approach”.

“There isn’t any one single road map to the Grammys, but each of these acts dedicated themselves to success and have dynamic teams of record labels, managers, and creatives supporting their efforts,” he said.

This graduate of Boston Univeristy incorporated Spoonfed Entertainment in 2010. The company’s services include publicity, radio promotion, content creation, event production, social media management, brand partnerships and general marketing management. It was while in college, when he was an intern at Island Records, that Greenspoon’s interest in reggae developed.

“I’ve been involved in publicity since the late 1990s when I worked in the international publicity department at Elektra Records. I worked with acts, including Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Fabolous, Mark Ronson, and rock group AC/DC.”

“I was lucky enough to intern at Island Records during the golden age of reggae and dancehall when albums like Buju Banton’s Til Shiloh, Beenie Man’s Blessed, Luciano’s Where There Is Life, and Capleton’s Prophecy albums were released. As an executive at VP Records, I spearheaded projects for Tanya Stephens, Morgan Heritage, Tarrus Riley, Bunji Garlin, Beres Hammond, Maxi Priest, Richie Spice, Sizzla, Spice, Gyptian and many others,” he continued.

Greenspoon stated that getting exposure for reggae acts in the American mainstream, compared to when he just started, has become more challenging, even if they are Grammy nominees.

“Getting exposure for reggae acts is always a challenge because there is generally limited space available in the media to cover it. A hit song and big name always helps, but even then, you need to find the angle and illuminate what makes the artist and situation unique,” he explained.