recording academy

The Recording Academy Addressed Diddy’s 2024 Grammys Status In Light Of The Troubling Allegations He Faces

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In light of Diddy’s recent legal troubles centered around sexual assault allegations, some have wondered what the Grammys are planning to do about the rapper: At the 2024 ceremony, his album The Love Album: Off The Grid earned a nomination in the Best Progressive R&B Album category.

Will Diddy’s Grammy nomination be taken away, and will he be welcome at the 2024 show? That’s unclear as of now, but the Recording Academy is at least looking into it.

“We are taking this matter very seriously and we are in the process of evaluating it with the time and care that it deserves,” the Recording Academy said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone.

As for Diddy’s nomination, based on recent precedent, it doesn’t appear likely it will be rescinded. In response to Marilyn Manson receiving a Grammy nomination in 2021, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said at the time:

“We won’t restrict the people who can submit their material for consideration. We won’t look back at people’s history, we won’t look at their criminal record, we won’t look at anything other than the legality within our rules of, is this recording for this work eligible based on date and other criteria. If it is, they can submit for consideration.

What we will control is our stages, our shows, our events, our red carpets. We’ll take a look at anyone who is asking to be a part of that, asking to be in attendance, and we’ll make our decisions at that point. But we’re not going to be in the business of restricting people from submitting their work for our voters to decide on.”

Find the full list of 2024 Grammy nominations here.

Drake May Have Just Ended His Grammys Boycott But Also Maybe Not, A New Report Indicates

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Drake has a storied history of beef with the Grammys. When accepting the Best Rap Song award in 2019, he downplayed its importance in his speech. Later, he withdrew his 2022 nominations and didn’t submit any music for 2023 either (although he still managed to get a win). Now, after not submitting his previous two albums for Grammys consideration, it looks like Drake is potentially ending his beef with the Recording Academy.

As The Hollywood Reporter reports, “a source close to the situation” says Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss was submitted for Album Of The Year and Best Rap Album, while songs like “Rich Flex” and “Spin Bout U” were submitted for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Melodic Rap Performance.

THR added a note worth considering, though: “At the Grammys, Academy members involved in albums or songs — including songwriters, producers, and engineers — can submit material they worked on for awards. For example, a producer or engineer who worked on most of Her Loss, who is a member of the Academy, could submit the project for album of the year, or a songwriter who co-wrote ‘Rich Flex’ could submit it for Song Of The Year and Best Rap Song.”

So, it’s possible Drake didn’t submit the album himself or personally approve its submission. Another possibility is that he put his Grammys beef aside to not prevent 21 Savage from being nominated. Neither Drake, 21 Savage, nor the Recording Academy responded to THR‘s request for comment.

The Recording Academy Clarified That AI Music Is ‘Absolutely Eligible’ For Grammy Nominations (With A Catch)

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Just a few weeks after the Recording Academy announced new rules to guard AI from being fully included in the Grammys main categories, the CEO/President Harvey Mason Jr. opened up to The Associated Press about how they will actually be adapting.

“Here’s the super easy, headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements, is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period,” Mason said. “What’s not going to happen is we are not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI portion.”

Mason went on to clarify that if “what is performing is not human creation” as a lead vocal, it would be included for a songwriting nomination, but not a performance one. “Conversely, if a song was sung by an actual human in the studio, and they did all the performing, but AI wrote the lyric or the track, the song would not be eligible in a composition or a songwriting category,” he added.

Basically put, the Grammys won’t be shutting out AI completely — as long as a real-life artist or team plays a larger role on the nominated piece.

“As long as the human is contributing in a more than de minimis amount, which to us means a meaningful way, they are and will always be considered for a nomination or a win,” he noted. “We don’t want to see technology replace human creativity. We want to make sure technology is enhancing, embellishing, or additive to human creativity. So that’s why we took this particular stand in this award cycle.”

The Recording Academy will announce their nominations for the 2024 ceremony on November 10.

When Are Grammy Nominations Announced For 2024?

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The 2024 Grammy Awards are still months away, but as we enter the second half of the year, some buzz is starting to build over who will be honored during music’s biggest night. The Recording Academy added a spark today (June 29) when they answered some major questions about next year’s ceremony. For example: When will the nominations for the 2024 Grammys be announced?

The answer for when the 66th Annual Grammy Award nominees will be unveiled is November 10, 2023. More news about how that process will go down should be revealed closer to then.

There are some other key dates to keep in mind as well. For starters, the eligibility window for works to be considered is from October 1, 2022 to September 15, 2023. After that, the first round of voting for Academy members will run from October 11 to 20, while the final round of voting will take place from this December 14 to January 4, 2024.

Then, there’s the actual show itself, which is currently scheduled for February 4, 2024 at Crypto.com Arena.

This news comes after the Academy shared some changes to the 2024 awards. For one, they’ve added three new categories: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording. They also revealed that the big four categories will have fewer nominees, and they outlined policies on music made using AI technology.

The Grammys Will Now Have Fewer Nominees For The ‘Big Four’ Categories

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The Recording Academy gives and the Recording Academy takes away. After announcing that it had added categories in African music, jazz, and pop fields to next year’s Grammys earlier this week, the Academy revealed further changes today. Among them: making AI music eligible to win awards (under certain circumstances) and contracting the nomination fields among the so-called “Big Four” awards. Now, there will only be eight nominees for the Best New Artist and Album, Song, and Record of the Year instead of 10, according to Variety.

This returns them to their size in 2021 when they were expanded in an effort to “honor more artists and shine a light on more great music, and potentially offer a greater opportunity for more genres of music to be honored,” according to Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. Reducing the number of nominees to pre-2021 levels could also help by reducing the length of the show and consolidating voting for difficult choices and dark horses.

The move had proved to be controversial, with some questioning whether it was a bid to ensure that the permanently popular Taylor Swift would get nominated and thus be obligated to appear at the show, boosting its television ratings. The Academy denied those accusations. In any case, it’d have been a Pyrrhic victory at best; the other beneficiary of the expansion was Kanye West, who spent much of the past two years being a lightning rod for controversy.

In addition to the above-mentioned changes the Academy announced that the existing categories of Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical have been moved to the General Field. Meanwhile, to qualify for nomination in Album of the Year, credited contributors must appear for at least 20% of the album’s runtime; this was likely updated as album credits have exploded in size in recent years due to artists like Beyoncé crediting more collaborators and sampled artists while avoiding lawsuits.

AI Music Is Eligible To Win Grammy Awards Under The Right Circumstances, Per New Recording Academy Rules

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The 2024 Grammy Awards will be a bit different than ceremonies from prior years. For instance, The Recording Academy revealed earlier this week that three new categories have been added: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording. Now, the Academy has also addressed AI music and the eligibility of works created using artificial intelligence.

As Variety reports, there are new “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Protocols” that essentially say music made purely by AI cannot be nominated for a Grammy. However, human-created work made using AI technology is eligible, so long as there’s a significant human contribution.

Here’s what it says in full:

“The GRAMMY Award recognizes creative excellence. Only human creators are eligible to be submitted for consideration for, nominated for, or win a GRAMMY Award. A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any Categories. A work that features elements of A.I. material (i.e., material generated by the use of artificial intelligence technology) is eligible in applicable Categories; however: (1) the human authorship component of the work submitted must be meaningful and more than de minimis; (2) such human authorship component must be relevant to the Category in which such work is entered (e.g., if the work is submitted in a songwriting Category, there must be meaningful and more than de minimis human authorship in respect of the music and/or lyrics; if the work is submitted in a performance Category, there must be meaningful and more than de minimis human authorship in respect of the performance); and (3) the author(s) of any A.I. material incorporated into the work are not eligible to be nominees or GRAMMY recipients insofar as their contribution to the portion of the work that consists of such A.I material is concerned. De minimis is defined as lacking significance or importance; so minor as to merit disregard.”

So far, Grimes has been the most notable artist to dive headfirst into AI music: A song featuring “GrimesAI,” how tracks using an AI version of her voice are credited, was released last month.

The Recording Academy Adds Three New Grammy Categories Including Best African Music Performance

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The 2022 Grammys Move to Las Vegas, Set April 3 Date

The Recording Academy has made significant changes for the upcoming 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Three new categories have been added, including Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording.

Moreover, the categories of Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical, and Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical, have been moved to the General Field, allowing all GRAMMY voters to participate. These decisions were made at the Recording Academy’s recent Board of Trustees meeting in May 2023, reflecting their commitment to inclusivity and recognizing diverse musical genres. Stay tuned for more updates on the highly anticipated awards ceremony.

“The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest Category changes to our Awards process. These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape,” said Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. “By introducing these three new Categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists – and relocating the Producer Of the Year and Songwriter Of The Year Categories to the General Field ensures that all our voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these fields. We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these Categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.”

Descriptions for the new categories are below:

Best African Music Performance

A track and singles Category that recognizes recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent. Highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions, the Category includes but is not limited to the Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz genres.

Best Pop Dance Recording

Recognizes tracks and singles that feature up-tempo, danceable music that follows a pop arrangement. Eligible Pop Dance recordings also feature strong rhythmic beats and significant electronic-based instruments with an emphasis on the vocal performance, melody and hooks. Dance remixes are eligible in the Best Remixed Recording Category only and may not be entered in Best Pop Dance Recording.

Best Alternative Jazz Album

This Category recognizes artistic excellence in Alternative Jazz albums by individuals, duos and groups/ensembles, with or without vocals. Alternative Jazz may be defined as a genre-blending, envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz (improvisation, interaction, harmony, rhythm, arrangements, composition, and style) with other genres, including R&B, Hip-Hop, Classical, Contemporary Improvisation, Experimental, Pop, Rap, Electronic/Dance music, and/or Spoken Word. It may also include the contemporary production techniques/instrumentation associated with other genres.

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The Recording Academy Added Three New Categories Under The Pop, Jazz, And African Music Fields For 2024

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Next year’s Grammy Awards will have a variety of new categories, addressing some of the criticisms that prior ceremonies missed out on crucial opportunities to honor works in genres that are often overlooked by the mainstream tastes of the Recording Academy at large. The Recording Academy added three new categories, including best African music performance, best alternative jazz album, and best pop dance recording, according to Billboard.

Since voters can only vote in three genre-specific fields (in addition to the general categories), the producer of the year, non-classical and songwriter of the year, non-classical categories are being moved to the general field where best new artist and album, record, and song of the year already reside. This turns the Big Four into the Big Six, I guess.

In a statement, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said:

“The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest category changes to our awards process. These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape. By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists – and relocating the producer of the year and songwriter of the year categories to the general field ensures that all our voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these fields. We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.”

The new awards bring the total number of categories up to 94, the most the Grammys have had since 2010’s peak of 109. Billboard has a complete breakdown of the new categories, which will help honor artists in genres like Afrobeats, Amapiano, and High Life, while reducing friction when artists like Beyoncé work in genres like dance so they aren’t competing with full-time EDM artists.

The Recording Academy Takes Federal Effort to Limit Use of Song Lyrics in Court to Capitol Hill

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Congressmen Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Hank Johnson (D-GA) from the Recording Academy® joined them at a press conference on Capitol Hill to announce the reintroduction of the Restoring Artistic Protection Act. The Restoring Artistic Protection Act would restrict the use of song lyrics in court, a prevalent practice that disproportionately harms rap and hip-hop musicians. It is intended to preserve artists’ freedom of creative expression.

Harvey Mason Jr., the CEO of the Academy, and Rico Love, the chair of the Academy Black Music Collective, among others, spoke on behalf of the industry and as artists about the significance of adopting this law and guaranteeing that all artists can freely express themselves without worrying that their work would be criminalized.

The announcement follows the Recording Academy’s Annual GRAMMYs on the Hill®, a two-day event that recognized 13-time GRAMMY® winner Pharrell Williams, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senator Bill Cassidy for their steadfast support of music creators. It also brought together music creators and members of Congress from both parties to advocate for the Restoring Artistic Protection Act, the HITS Act, the American Music Fairness Act, and reform of the Recording Industry Association of America.

“GRAMMYs on the Hill has been bringing music creators to Capitol Hill for more than 20 years to elevate policy issues that impact our community. Today, we’re proud to see our Academy members’ commitment to advocacy come to life with the reintroduction of the Restoring Artistic Protection Act. We must safeguard artists’ freedom to create at all costs and work to eradicate the biases that come with the unconstitutional practice of using lyrics as evidence. We are grateful to Congressmen Johnson and Bowman for their unwavering commitment to music people and look forward to working alongside them to advance this issue.”

– Harvey Mason jr., CEO, Recording Academy and Rico Love, Chair, Recording Academy Black Music Collective

“This legislation is long overdue,” said Congressman Johnson. “For too long, artists – particularly young Black artists – have been unfairly targeted by prosecutors who use their lyrics as evidence of guilt, even though there is no evidence that the lyrics are anything more than creative expression. When you allow music and creativity to be silenced, you’re opening the door for other realms of free speech to be curtailed as well. The government should not be able to silence artists simply because they write, draw, sing, or rap about controversial or taboo subjects. The Restoring Artistic Protection Act (RAP Act) would protect artists’ First Amendment rights by limiting the admissibility of their lyrics as evidence in criminal and civil proceedings.”

“Rap, hip-hop and every lyrical musical piece is a beautiful form of art and expression that must be protected,” said Congressman Bowman Ed.D. “I am proud to introduce the RAP Act alongside Rep. Hank Johnson. Our judicial system disparately criminalizes Black and Brown people, including Black and Brown creativity. For example, Tommy Munsdwell Canady is a young 17-year-old kid serving a life sentence whose conviction heavily relied upon lyrics he wrote. I was deeply moved to hear that Mr. Canady continues to pursue his art in the face of our carceral systems that would otherwise stifle Black art. He is not an outlier. Evidence shows when juries believe lyrics to be rap lyrics, there’s a tendency to presume it’s a confession, whereas lyrics for other genres of music are understood to be art, not factual reporting. This act would ensure that our evidentiary standards protect the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. We cannot imprison our talented artists for expressing their experiences nor will we let their creativity be suppressed.”

Since the 2000s, there have been more than 500 cases where prosecutors have presented song lyrics as evidence in court against an artist defendant. Rap was evaluated more negatively than other music genres, according to a 2016 study by criminologists at the University of California. This finding highlights the possibility that prejudice against rap lyrics could inappropriately impact jurors when admitted as evidence to prove guilt. To correct this mistake, the Recording Academy has led the charge in limiting the use of an artist’s lyrics — among other forms of creative expression — as evidence in court cases, protecting the First Amendment rights of artists nationwide.

The post The Recording Academy Takes Federal Effort to Limit Use of Song Lyrics in Court to Capitol Hill appeared first on The Source.

Dr. Dre Receives Inaugural Global Impact Award At 2023 Grammys

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Dr. Dre just accepted the inaugural Global Impact Award from the Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective at the 2023 Grammys. In fact, the award is named after him. Moreover, his award came on a night in which dozens of artists came together to celebrate hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. Furthermore, the Global Impact Award “recognizes the contributors, creatives and professionals with a proven track record of uplifting Black music.” During the ceremony, LL Cool J presented the Compton legend with the award. Also, he labeled him “an icon who helped define West Coast Hip Hop.” In addition, LL believes the mogul’s path is “one of the most impactful success stories of our time.” In his speech, Dr. Dre had much to be thankful for.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: Honoree Dr. Dre accepts the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award from LL COOL J (L) onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Before he spoke, however, the ceremony featured an MC Late-narrated video of the 57-year-old’s many accomplishments. From his early days with N.W.A., his solo success, and his business acumen, they hailed him as a trailblazer. “I’m extremely moved by this award,” he remarked. “I want to say thank you to the Recording Academy and the Black Music Collective for this honor, and I know everybody in here probably knows this already, but this is the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. Make some noise for Hip Hop! Where would I be without it? Where would a lot of people be without Hip Hop, to be honest? Hip Hop became a lifeline for me as a teenager growing up in Compton, and it started with a song called ‘The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel.’”

Moreover, the artist continued to thank his collaborators and supportive loved ones. “What I love about this award is that it uses my name to inspire the next generation of producers, artists and entrepreneurs to reach for their greatness and demand that from everyone around you,” he concluded his speech. “Never compromise your vision at all, pursue quality over quantity, and remember that everything is important. That is one of my mottos: everything is important.”

After Dre received the honor, LL Cool J and The Roots hosted a tribute to hip-hop’s 50th. It featured legendary acts, groundbreaking artists, and current titans of the game. “From The Bronx to the five boroughs, to the West Coast to the Heartland; overseas to Europe, to Africa, to Asia; TikTok, whatever’s next,” LL expressed towards the performance’s end. “Because thanks to the 33 Hip Hop artists on stage and the countless more we love, Hip Hop is a global platform today. We’re celebrating. Happy 50th anniversary to Hip Hop, baby!” As always, come back to HNHH for the latest on Dr. Dre and to celebrate all things hip-hop.

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