At rehearsals this week for the 36th Annual American Music Awards at the Nokia Theatre, one of the key executives for the show gushed that Sunday night’s broadcast will have 19 performances, a record number: “We called everyone on our dream list and they all said ‘Yes,’ so we just had to make room!” That effusive appraisal was met with a smile and a shrug by graybeard Al Schwartz, a consulting producer who has worked on the show since the Nixon administration.

“Well, it is a great year, but the stars are coming because they need it more than ever. Albums don’t sell like they used to. And even with the stars we have a tough fight ahead of us: There’s the premiere of ‘24′ and there’s football on.”

These are strange days for traditional music awards shows. The recording industry is still reeling, the concert-touring business is in retreat and television audiences have made it quite clear that their fascination lies with shows that create new celebrities, not the ones that honor existing stars.

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