"I found it to be a very, very positive and rewarding experience," Lipman said, "and I encourage all in the industry to do this and exercise their right to vote."

As for Warner Bros., staff members recorded about a dozen holiday songs for a planned commercial album during a session in Burbank several weeks ago, sources said. The recording, made under the supervision of a choral director, was then sent to the AOL Time Warner Inc.-owned label's New York and Nashville offices so that additional employees could add their vocals, according to people familiar with the plan.

The unusual in-house production — and the potential for other labels to make such recordings and distort Grammy voting — has been the subject of industry chatter for weeks.

"I'm not going to comment on this particular situation, but I'm very busy putting together the Firm Choir," joked Simon Renshaw of artist management powerhouse the Firm, which represents such acts as the Dixie Chicks and Mary J. Blige.

Warner Bros. declined to comment....

Insiders now are raising questions about the rationale for "Miracle on West 25th Street," an album released in September by Zomba Music Group, home to such acts as Britney Spears and R. Kelly. The album, performed by the label's staff and credited to the "Zomba Choir," contains six songs, including "Jingle Bells" and "The Dreidel Song."

A spokeswoman for New York-based Zomba dismissed the suggestion that the label was seeking Grammy voters, saying the album was created because "we would do something fun to lift people's spirits" as the company struggled through its corporate acquisition by media giant Bertelsmann.

The spokeswoman said Zomba commercially released the recording "so we could see it all the way through." The album has sold 34 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. She said she didn't know whether participants on the album applied for Grammy voting status.

Universal and Zomba each released their employee albums on or just before Oct. 1 — the academy's deadline for recordings being claimed as credit by would-be voters. Most major labels don't begin selling most of their Christmas music until weeks later....


You can listen to some sound clips by the Zomba choir if you click on the Amazon link below. There are also a couple of reviews which look like they were written by Zomba employees or their relatives (it has a sales rank of 458,993 - I thought it might be worse since it only sold 24 copies logged by soundscan).

I still have an un-opened NBC Celebrity Christmas CD I got when I was on NBC's press list. It features Sean Hayes, Martin Sheen, Jay Leno and other NBC stars. Though I don't think NBC did it to get Grammy votes.