The Recording Academy Votes To Eliminate Nominations Review Committees

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The Recording Academy announced today (April 30) significant changes to its awards process, including the elimination of nominations review committees in general and genre fields.

Nominations in all of the Grammy Award general and genre fields will now be determined by a majority, peer-to-peer vote of voting members of the Recording Academy. Previously, many of the categories within these fields utilized 15-30 highly skilled music peers who represented and voted within their genre communities for the final selection of nominees. The Academy confirmed that more than 90 percent of its members will have gone through the re-qualification process by the end of this year, ensuring that the voting body is actively engaged in music creation.

Additionally, the Academy announced a reduction in the number of categories in which voters may vote. In an effort to ensure music creators are voting in the categories in which they are most knowledgeable and qualified, the number of specific genre field categories in which Grammy Award voters may vote has been reduced from 15 to 10. Those 10 categories must be within no more than three fields. All voters are permitted to vote in the four General Field categories (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist).

The Academy also announced that six existing craft fields will be consolidated into two fields: Presentation Field and Production Field. In either newly consolidated field, voters would have the ability to choose how many categories they feel qualified to vote in, respecting category vote limits, without being excessively limited by the three-field restriction.

Finally, two new categories have been added, bringing the total number of Grammy Award categories to 86. Those categories are Best Global Music Performance (Global Music Field) and Best Música Urbana Album (Latin Music Field).

These changes go into effect immediately for the 64th Annual Grammy Awards taking place Jan. 31, 2022. The eligibility period for the 64th Annual Grammy Awards is Sept. 1, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021.

“It’s been a year of unprecedented, transformational change for the Recording Academy, and I’m immensely proud to be able to continue our journey of growth with these latest updates to our Awards process,” says Harvey Mason jr., chair & interim president/CEO of the Recording Academy. “This is a new Academy, one that is driven to action and that has doubled down on the commitment to meeting the needs of the music community. While change and progress are key drivers of our actions, one thing will always remain — the Grammy Award is the only peer-driven and peer-voted recognition in music. We are honored to work alongside the music community year-round to further refine and protect the integrity of the Awards process.”

LB Cantrell
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