The Recording Academy has announced changes to its nomination process for the 64th annual Grammy Awards, due to take place on January 31, 2022. Previously, the Grammy nominations were completed by 15 to 30 music industry “peers” representing their “genre communities”. As of now, the final pool of nominees for nearly all Grammy Awards will be determined by a majority of the academy’s voting members. In addition, two new categories are added: Global Music Performance and Música Urbana Album, bringing the total number of categories to 86. The admission period for the 64th annual GRAMMY Awards has already started and will last until September 30, 2021.
The “General” categories – including the “Big Four” of Album, Song and Record of the Year and “Best New Artist” – and “Genre” will eliminate committees, but the “Craft” categories (producer, packaging and liner notes) will continue to be decided by a select group of industry professionals. The academy has used the committees since 1989; but only with the “Big Four” since 1995.
After the nominees for most of the Grammy categories are selected by general voters, 90 percent of its voting members will go through a “requalification process” by the end of 2021, according to the Recording Academy, to ensure that the electoral body is actively involved in music creation. “Voters are now only allowed to vote in 10 (previously 15) specific genre field categories, and those 10 categories cannot have more than three fields.
Check out Pitchfork’s coverage of the Grammys.
