The Echo Is Dead

Kollegah and Farid Bang showed up at the Echo Awards with Holocaust jokes. Just said them, onstage, like it was part of the bit. The industry watched, then watched the board of the Bundesverband Musikindustrie realize they had a problem that couldn’t be fixed with a statement. So they did the only thing left: they killed the award and promised something better.

The Echo is finished now. Officially dead. There will be a replacement—workshops are planned, consultations with the industry, some kind of new award with better values and a cleaner conscience. But the thing itself is gone, because the thing itself is tainted.

I understand why. Once you broadcast something like that, it sticks. You can’t wash it off. The damage is permanent and the only move is to blow it up and start fresh. I get it.

What’s strange is thinking that’s actually a solution. As if the problem was the award’s structure or its name, when really the problem was an industry that couldn’t or wouldn’t stop two guys from doing this. A new logo and some consultations aren’t going to change that. The next award will have the same industry making the same decisions, just with better optics.

Maybe the replacement will be different. Probably not.