In as much as this is public knowledge, it is not popular knowledge; most people just know that, The Grammys is not available for public voting, they don’t know why this is, and who exactly are the people that vote for some of your favorite artistes, to be Grammy winners?
In this article, we will be diving into all of this.
Unlike almost every other award show, that is mostly just the public, coming together to appreciate the work, that artistes have put into their craft, over a certain period of time.
The Grammys is more of fellow musical creatives, coming together to appreciate the work, of other musical creatives. The Grammys is not open to public voting. This is how The Grammys has been since it’s first ceremony, on the 4th of May 1959, and it’s also part of the reason, why it’s one of the most prestigious, and also one of the longest running musical award shows in the world.
Now that that is out of the way, we also need to make it clear that not just anyone can vote at The Grammys. Only The Recording Academy members, are given the exclusive right to do so.
The Recording Academy members are classified as either voting, professional or student members.
The voting members, consist of those who are involved firsthand with the creation of music for example: artistes, producers and musicians.
The professional members are music industry professionals, while the student members, are those studying to be involved in the music industry.
When it comes to the nomination and voting process, of The Grammys, The professional and voting members, are the ones that handle this.
As a musical creative, if you wanted to get a Grammy nomination your entry, would first need to be submitted by either a Recording Academy member, or a Recording media company.
After this stage, your entry is then screened, by more than 350 experts, including the professional recording academy members, this is to ensure that the entry is eligible enough, for a Grammy nomination, and that it is placed, in the right category. A fact of note is that, in craft categories, final nominations, are determined by committees, comprised of voting members from all of the Academy’s chapter.
As for the voting, Academy voting members vote in up to ten categories, across up to three fields in the genre fields, plus the four categories of the general field to determine the winners. To ensure the quality of voting, members are directed to vote only in their fields of expertise.
The votes are counted and reviewed by the independent accounting firm, Deloitte Touche tohmatsu, and they only reveal the winners, on the day of the ceremony, to the audience. It’s also possible for there to have a tie in a category, this happened at the last Grammy ceremony between “Silk Sonic” and “Jazmine Sullivan.”
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The nomination and voting processes of The Grammys, is definitely one whose credibility has been argued, over the years. Several musical creatives including critics believe that in as much as this part of the award ceremony is part of what has made it the prestigious and why it brings a different sense of validation to musical creatives, they still believe that it is old fashioned, and that it is a process that can easily get corrupted by the people who have been given the nomination and voting power.
The critics also say that having several musical legends like “Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg and many others” who have never gotten Grammy award is proof that their claims about The Grammys’ nomination and voting processes are true.
The former CEO and President of The Recording Academy, Deborah Dugan, confirmed these claims after she got fired.
Deborah Dugan, said that it’s only musical creatives who have people that have business relationships with members of the Recording academy or who themselves have gotten the chance to get a Grammy nomination.
What do you think about this? Do you think that the Grammys should still retain their nomination and voting processes?
Or do you think they should be replaced with new ones?
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