The Recording Academy Promises Change for Support of Black Musicians After Grammy Backlash
The Recording Academy released a new guide to promote racial justice.
The Recording Academy’s new guide for helping the music industry promote racial justice is just what they need after receiving backlash. The Black community verbalized their disappointment with the lack of inclusion and transparency within the academy.
Sean “Diddy” Combs emphasized the lack of equality earlier this year during his speech for the Industry Icon award at the Clive Davis pre-Grammy Gala.
“Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be,” he said. “For years we’ve allowed institutions that have never had our best interests at heart to judge us, and that stops right now.”
Since this situation arose, The Recording Academy has launched the Black Music Collective and also hired an inclusion and diversity officer. Additionally, the academy has partnered up with Color of Change, which is a civil rights advocacy group. This partnership has created the #ChangeMusic roadmap. This roadmap outlines the ways in which the academy can improve the treatment of Black people. These ideas include investing in Black talent and careers, committing to transparency regarding Black representation, partnering with the Black community, supporting civic advocacy, and investing in Black safety.
RT @ColorOfChange: To #ChangeMusic, the music industry must:
— Neil Morrison (@neil_morr) December 17, 2020
-Invest in Black Talent + Careers
-Commit to Representation + Transparency
-Promote Civic Participation + Advocacy
-Invest in Black safety
Explore COC and @RecordingAcad’s #ChangeMusic roadma… pic.twitter.com/hAKEKO8iOs
“The roadmap is intended to serve as an important tool to support the changes we must urgently make together in music,” Harvey Mason Jr., chair and interim president/CEO of the Recording Academy said in a statement. “This is a new era of the Recording Academy and we won’t stop until the work is done. The Recording Academy and Color of Change invite our peers and partners to join us on this transformational journey.”
incredibly proud of @carolinedjoyner and @ColorOfChange for championing this roadmap towards racial justice in the music industry — an industry that grossly overlooks and undervalues the absolutely critical contributions of Black talent. https://t.co/vxnZiP8aPn
— Leah Fessler (@LeahFessler) December 17, 2020
We are happy to see the transition and effort to promote equality among all races in The Recording Academy. We hope to continue to see this moving forward.
