Voting members of The Recording Academy, the organization in charge of the Grammys will see an increase in their annual fees from $100 to $150, marking the first rate hike since 2000. In an email sent on Monday (July 10), the Academy informed its members who wish to maintain good standing about the 50% increase, which will come into effect on August 1, just in time for the voting season. However, any dues submitted on or before July 31 will still reflect the previous rate.
According to Harvey Mason Jr., the CEO of the Academy, if a member expresses hardship due to the fee increase, accommodations will be made, just as they were during the pandemic. Mason told Billboard that a small yet significant portion of members faced financial difficulties during the pandemic and were granted fee waivers. Additionally, some individuals voluntarily paid double dues to support those who couldn’t afford them.
The career musician emphasized that the Academy’s goal is not to extract money from members who cannot afford the increased fee. Instead, they aim to provide fair value and welcome individuals as members regardless of their financial circumstances. If a member states that they cannot afford the $150 fee, the Academy will inquire about their affordable amount and accept them as a member.
“If people do have hardships [with this fee increase], we’re going to continue that policy,” he said. “It’s not about trying to extract money from people that don’t have it. It’s just trying to make a fair value. So, when someone says we can’t afford to play $150, we’re going to say, ‘OK, what can you afford? Oh, you can’t afford it, No problem. We want you as a member regardless.’”
When asked if there is concern about people exploiting this lenient approach, Mason acknowledged that while there might be a small percentage of individuals who take advantage of the policy, the majority of the music community are honest and fair people. He expressed confidence in the integrity of those involved in music, creativity, and art, believing that they are not seeking ways to cheat the system.
The Academy also has a waiver policy for entry fees. All professional and voting members receive five courtesy entries per year, and if they submit more than five entries, they are required to pay fees. This year, the fees are set at $40 for entries between July 17-31, $75 for entries between August 1-23, and $125 for entries between August 24-31. However, members who would face a burden due to the entry fees can request a waiver by reaching out to the awards department.
The Academy justifies the fee structure for entries beyond the five courtesy limit, stating that it encourages entrants to carefully consider the value of each submission and only put forth work they genuinely believe is Grammy-worthy.
The Academy’s email to its members announcing the fee increase highlighted the organization’s achievements since the last increase in 2000, including organizing over 650 events, recognizing Grammy Award nominees and winners, providing $110 million in aid through MusiCares, and advocating for creators’ rights by supporting the passage of various bills at the state and federal levels.
The email expressed gratitude for members’ ongoing support, emphasizing that their membership and financial contributions have enabled the Academy to accomplish significant work and adapt to the evolving music industry. The email concludes by acknowledging the members’ dedication and their collective effort to ensure the continued success and vitality of music
Over the years there has been reports in the Jamaican media from US based Grammy voting members, that the reggae category has been under threat and could be removed from the awards, and that it makes no sense to even consider asking The Academy to include a separate Dancehall category at the Grammys. I asked him about the truth of those assertions and Harvey says that is far from the truth and indeed reggae has had many good submissions over the years.
“No, we’ve had really good submissions in the reggae category, I think over the last 5 years we’ve had almost 700 submissions. Last year we had I believe 70 or 75, so it’s down a little bit this year, for the most part we’ve had really good numbers in that category and we don’t arbitrarily decide which categories to implement or to remove, its all based on submissions and if you get good submissions in the category there will be no purpose for us to remove it,” Harvey confirmed.
As for whether there will ever be a dancehall category, Harvey says, “we have worked really hard over the last two years to include more music not less…we want more people from more genres, from more regions and make sure we are honoring them properly. It’s possible only because anything is possible.” He added that the way to do it is to propose it properly to the Recording Academy through a voting process.
“When it comes to categories it just depends on who submits. If the dancehall community wanted its own category and they felt so strongly about it- and the stakeholders in that category felt like ‘we want to have our own category’, and they submit it and they have the right language in the proposal, the right rationale as to why its important and they get the right signers and the right language and justification, you will have a new category.”
Although the Grammys are a US based awards show, it’s one music organization that has a global impact. I asked Harvey if he would ever consider bringing the Grammy Awards outside of the US to which he said ‘Yes’.
“I think we would consider that, there is a lot of opportunities, borders are coming down. With music you are seeing people come together and people from all different parts of the world loving other genres. Jamaica having Taylor(Swift) with the number 1 record is an amazing example of that, so where we have our show could change, where we honor music might widen. There might be a chance to do more work in serving music people around the world. There is a saying that talent is distributed evenly around the world but opportunity is not so, that would say to us we might need to take a look at other parts of the world, where we could have events,” he predicts.
Watch the exclusive conversation with Harvey Mason Jr. on World Music Views YouTube below:
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