The first round of voting for the 2024 GRAMMY nominees concluded on October 20. This is the beginning of a process that involves the Recording Academy’s members determining nominees and winners based solely on their peers’ judgment, with no consideration of sales, chart positions, or popularity.
To be eligible for a GRAMMY, a recording must be “commercially released” and “nationally distributed and available” in the U.S. within the eligibility period, which for the ongoing Grammys is from October 1, 2022, to September 15, 2023. Recording Academy members and media companies can submit recordings during the Online Entry Process, which usually runs from mid-July to the end of August. Entries must be submitted in a specific category, but the Academy’s Awards Department can change the category placement.
Between the Online Entry Process and the First Round of Voting, the Academy’s Screening Committees listen to the thousands of entries and determine eligibility and category placement. This process can lead to last-minute changes, which can be frustrating for creatives and impact promotional efforts.
The 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards have 94 categories in eleven genre fields, and categories can evolve over time. 88 of the 94 Grammy categories are voted on by members while Nominees in the remaining six categories are determined by committees. Genre representation and new categories are influenced by the membership, so more members from a genre can lead to new category additions as explained by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr who told WMV how easy it could be for a Dancehall category to be part of the process.
“The Academy needs to ensure that there are people from each genre involved in membership, we need to ensure we are talking to the dancehall and reggae community, we need to ensure we are inviting them to be a part of our community ,” Harvey said.
Through Mason Jr., the Academy have embarked on several outreach programs which are focused on inclusivity and representation for music across the world.
“We used to sit kinda like in the back and say ‘well we are the Academy, if you’d like to join’, but now we are going about it another way into the areas where we think we need improvement and say; Dancehall community, reggae community, listen to what it is we do, listen to the value of being a member, understand what we are doing the rest of the year besides just the Grammys, if that resonates with you please join us and please make our voting membership more reflective of the genre,” Mason said.
Promotional efforts are crucial during the voting period, including social media engagement and marketing campaigns to convince voting members to consider specific recordings. The larger one’s network of voting members, the higher the chances of a nomination.
Voting members take their responsibility seriously, and integrity is essential. Voting members inform their colleagues about recordings and ask for consideration, but they should not request votes.
The Academy has strict rules about voting and solicitation, and any activity in violation of these rules may lead to disqualification of entries.
For those aspiring to win a GRAMMY, getting involved with the Recording Academy early, becoming a voting member, and involving other voting members in the creative process is advised.
Nominees are announced approximately twenty days after the First Round Voting closes, this year that will be November 10 and the Final Round Voting takes place from December 14, 2023, to January 4, 2024, with winners announced during the live GRAMMY Awards.
Alexx Antaeus, is a Music Producer and Recording Academy Voting Member.
