Los Angeles USA - From 1991until this year, there was one music community and one awards show that independent artists around LA could embrace as their own: The annual Los Angeles Music Awards, now in it's 18th year. During this amazing run of yearly events, the LA Music Awards has had hundreds of sub-contractors come and go, including tech's, vendors, production assistants, associate producers and various other positions. During this same 18 years, the award show business for independent artists in LA has grown from 1 to over 20. Though most of these off-shoot shows are produced by former LA Music Award subcontractors, none of them have made an attempt to divide the music community…until now.

According to Al Bowman, the originator of the Independent Award Show concept in LA and founder/ executive producer of the LA Music Awards, only two of these former sub-contractors have been responsible for the confusion and complete desecration of trust built within the independent music scene in Los Angeles. These would be Brent Harvey and Jim DeCicco, current executive producers of the brand new Eworld Music Hollywood Music Awards.

Bowman, who recently filed a massive legal action against the two, claims that this division of Eworlde Companies, Inc. is operating illegally, having built their entire program on stolen trade secrets obtained from him and his offices while working for him during the years from 1996 until 2007. According to Bowman, “There is little doubt that both Harvey and DeCicco are guilty as charged, that it is my concerted opinion that both of these men and the organization supporting them are guilty of theft of intellectual property, misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair business practices. There is no way they could have built a profitable awards program in their first year without trade secrets that they stole from me. These concepts took almost two decades to develop," says Bowman.

Despite the fact that Hollywood rolls out the red carpet for numerous award shows every year, for a variety of reasons, none of them take place on the same day as any of the others. Yet, in a historical precedent and apparent act of wilful disregard of award show ethics, DeCicco and Harvey have scheduled their Eworld Music Event on the same day, in the same city, at the same time. These actions have only brought confusion to music community in LA. “Everyday I receive phone calls and emails from artists thinking these shows are one and the same, confused as to why they are in separate locations, then upset when they realize they canot be in two places at once to enjoy both events. It’s very frustrating” says Bowman “I have spent the last 18 years nuturing and building a community based on the wishes of a dying man who wanted to see the LA music community continue to grow together.” The dying man Bowman refers to is the late Godfather of Rock n’ Roll Bill Gazzarri, who in 1991 only 3 days before his death, passed on his trademark white Fedora hat to Bowman, calling him the Godson for rock, giving him the mission to carry on his legacy of helping independent musicians in LA. Not long after, the LA Music Awards were born, dedicated each year to the memory of Bill Gazzarri.

Furthermore, in his allegation of unfair competition Bowman say that both DeCicco and Harvey have gone over the top on this legal count. "In 2008, we received hundreds of individual submissions from artists and bands for consideration of nomination. We filtered out about 90% of them as being not up to our standards. Only the smallest percentage won nominations at our event. For Eworlds event, it appears that everyone who submitted their music to Harvey and DeCicco’s event won a nomination. Some of their categories have two to three dozen nominees. When it comes to music, quantity means nothing, quality means everything. It appears that Harvey and DeCicco have attempted to destroy the true meaning of what the awards show industry stands for with their actions that are only based upon greed and egotistical power. “We have only five nominations per category, and that is tough to get even with 10,000 songs submitted.," stated Bowman.

So, in the same building where American Idol takes place, where 30,000 hopeful artists are narrowed down through intense public scrutiny from to ten and finally to one, an entirely different standard exists with this new award show for independent artists. A standard where it appears that everyone, no matter how undeserving or mediocre they may be, wins a nomination and the right to download their certificate online. What has happened to the music scene here in Hollywood? Why has an apparently legitimate organization like Eworlde Companies, Inc. allowed such behaviour within their ranks? In the past money was certainly a factor but it was usually an unspoken element to be dealt with behind closed doors. Nowadays it is no longer unspoken and seems to be a prime motivating factor for these young Hollywood wannabe executives who are willing to accept quantity over quality. Johnny Grant, Bill Gazzarri and the other Hollywood pioineers who paved the way for today’s entertainment industry must be spinning in their graves.

To find out about the lawsuit LA Music Awards has filed, go to www.lasuperiorcourt.org and look for case number BC385498.