Recording Academy Announces New Changes to the Grammy Awards
In an effort to keep up with the ever-evolving music industry, the Recording Academy announced several changes for future Grammy Awards. These new changes affect submission policies and new categories.
The academy announced six new categories they will recognize next year. Songwriter of the Year will go to an exceptional, non-performing, and non-producing songwriter. In order to be eligible for this award, the individual must be solely credited as a writer.
Other categories include Best Alternative Music Performance, Best Americana Performance, Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media, and Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. There is also a new addition to the Special Merit Award, which will go to the Best Song for Social Change.
The Grammys now have a #GameMusic category! Proud to be a signatory to the category proposal that brought about this change – kudos to the Recording Academy Board of Trustees for their support! Now we must do our part! Enter your VGM albums! https://t.co/JrAuj5ORMC #GameAudio pic.twitter.com/7BKVM5KLaH— Winifred Phillips (@winphillips) June 9, 2022
In an interview with Variety, the Recording Academy’s CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated, “We’re so excited to honor these diverse communities of music creators through the newly established awards and amendments, and to continue cultivating an environment that inspires change, progress, and collaboration … The Academy’s top priority is to effectively represent the music people that we serve, and each year, that entails listening to our members and ensuring our rules and guidelines reflect our ever-evolving industry.” Look for Variety’s interview with Mason about the changes, publishing later today.”
This is a good move I think https://t.co/gLNfcrBRpY— Niru 🏠 (@NiruCherie) June 9, 2022
While these new awards mean more opportunities for artist recognition, the Recording Academy has enforced a new rule that enforces new content for album submissions. The minimum requirement for fresh content has been increased from 50% to 75%. This new rule is likely a way to eliminate the trend in which artists would release “bonus editions” of their albums to gain another year of eligibility.
All these changes will immediately go into effect for the 65 Annual Grammy Awards in 2023. We cannot wait to see what new talent these changes bring.
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