The Recording Academy has unveiled a set of major changes to the GRAMMY Awards.

Full story below…

In a statement issued moments ago, it was confirmed that the special panels at the helm of several awards – including the big four categories – have officially been dissolved.

For decades, the elite group (comprised of 15-30 voters where present) had a paramount say over nominees and winners in several categories.

With its elimination, it sees the nominations and winner determinations pivot back in the direction of peer voting.

To ensure the committee as a whole is as effective as can be, the Academy has also confirmed that by the year’s end over 90% of its members will have engaged in a requalification process designed to certify that the voting members are engaged in music creation.

Elsewhere, other changes include the addition of new categories and a reduction of the number of categories a member can vote in.

It was also re-confirmed that the 64th Annual GRAMMYs will take place on January 31 2022 and crown music released between the eligibility period of September 1 2020 – September 30 2021. 

Speaking on the seismic changes, Harvey Mason Jr., Chair & Interim President/CEO of the Recording Academy, said:

“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. 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.”

Many are praising the changes – which arrive after a headline-grabbing year involving The Weeknd – as a huge move towards increased transparency and representation of the modern music market.

Check out the full list of amendments:

• 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. With this change, the results of GRAMMY nominations and winners are placed back in the hands of the entire voting membership body, giving further validation to the peer-recognized process. To further support this amendment, the Academy has confirmed that more than 90 percent of its members will have gone through the requalification process by the end of this year, ensuring that the voting body is actively engaged in music creation. Craft committees remain in place (see below for craft category realignment.)

• Reduction In Number Of Categories Voter May Vote

  • 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. Additionally, 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). Proposed by a special voting Task Force who brought forth the recommendation, this change serves as an additional safeguard against bloc voting and helps to uphold the GRAMMY Award as a celebration of excellence in music, with specific genre field categories being voted on by the most qualified peers.

• Craft Category Realignment

  • To better reflect the overlapping peer groups within the voter membership body, 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. This benefits the integrity of these Awards by embracing and utilizing the specializations of the voters, without restricting their choice or contributions due to the field limits imposed by the recent reduction of the number of categories voters may vote in. Field updates are as follows:
    • Package Field, Notes Field and Historical Field renamed and consolidated to Presentation Field
    • Production, Non-Classical Field; Production, Immersive Audio Field; and Production, Classical Field renamed and consolidated to Production Field
      

• New Categories Added
  Two new categories have been added, bringing the total number of GRAMMY Award categories to 86:

  Best Global Music Performance (Global Music Field)
  Best Música Urbana Album (Latin Music Field)

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Are you feeling the changes?

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