66 Percent of Current Grammy Voters Have Joined Since 2019: “Most Diverse, Representative Grammy Electorate Ever”
In 2019, the Recording Academy launched a new, community-driven membership model to help diversify its voting body. Now, 66 percent of that electorate are voters who have joined in the past five years.
It’s a significant shift for the organization and could result in artists who have been snubbed at the show for years — from Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar — winning in the top categories. The change was even reflected at the 2024 Grammys earlier this year, where all of the televised winners were female acts, including Taylor Swift, SZA, Billie Eilish and Miley Cyrus.
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The news is part of the Academy’s 2024 Membership Report, which was released on Thursday. In the past five years, the Academy underwent an accelerated renewal review process of 100 percent of its members — aka requalifications — and some members did not requalify and were unable to renew membership as a result. That helped eliminate older voters and made way for newer voters, helping create a major change in who earns nominations and, ultimately, wins a Grammy.
The organization also restructured its new member submission process in 2019 — the first attempt in 60 years — adding two industry recommendations and a peer review process for its voting members. The Academy also requires that creators have 12 “commercially distributed, verifiable credits in a single creative profession,” and at least five of those should be within the previous five years. And if members have not been renewed in five years, they will automatically undergo a renewal review.
“It’s essential that our membership reflects the current music community, which is why we have specific requirements for joining and renewing. We want to ensure it consists of individuals who are actively engaged in the industry today. The more representative we are of the music industry, the greater impact we can make on the community as a whole,” Harvey Mason Jr., the Academy’s CEO, tells The Hollywood Reporter.
The Grammys currently have more than 13,000 voting members. Since 2019, approximately 8,700 creators have become voting members and the Academy has seen a 65 percent growth in voting members who are people of color. There’s been a 90 percent growth for Black voting members; 43 percent growth for Latinos; and 100 percent growth for Asians.
The Academy also surpassed its goal of adding 2,500 women voting members by 2025, having already added more than 3,000. Since 2019, women voting members have increased by 27 percent.
“We are not at our ultimate destination yet, but the Recording Academy membership has never been more reflective of the music community than it is today,” Mason says. “It has more women, more people of color and a broad representation of diverse genres and crafts. It represents a dynamic and vibrant body of music creators who push the boundaries of a rapidly changing musical ecosystem while driving our culture forward and deciding Grammy outcomes. It’s the most diverse, representative Grammy electorate ever.”
The Academy’s voting body spans over 13 creative disciplines, including songwriters, composers, producers, engineers, vocalists, conductors and more. Songwriters and composers make up the largest voting body at 46 percent, followed by producers and instrumentalists, each at 33 percent. Vocalists account for 32 percent, followed by engineers (19 percent) and arrangers (12 percent).
Members from the pop genre account for 27 percent of current voters, while jazz is second with 19 percent. That’s followed by R&B and rock (17 percent each), American Roots and alternative (13 percent each), classical (12 percent), rap, Latin music and global music (10 percent each), while country and dance account for 9 percent each.
First-round Grammy voting begins Friday and lasts until Oct. 15. Nominations will be announced Nov. 8 and final voting is from Dec. 12 through Jan. 3. The live show will air Feb. 2 from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history, is expected to earn her fifth album of the year nomination with Cowboy Carter. Others expected to earn multiple nods include Swift, Eilish, Lamar, Post Malone, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Chris Stapleton, Ariana Grande and Charli XCX.
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