Two years ago, the Grammys suddenly increased the number of nominees allowed in the top categories, increasing voting slots from eight to ten. Now it is returning.
The Recording Academy, which hosts the Grammy Awards, announced Friday that the nominations for its 66th annual awards will again be set to eight in the top four categories for Album, Record and Song of the Year and Best New Artist. bottom. , is expected to be announced in early 2024.
Among other tweaks to the award rules are the addition of two categories to the All Genres “general” category. These are the non-classical Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year (non-classical), a new award introduced at the latest awards ceremony in February. . This change, the first addition to the general field since 1959, will allow all voting members of the Academy to vote in these categories.
The change to 10 nominees, decided by the board the day before the 2021 nominations were announced, made the always-surprise Grammy process even more unpredictable. Some voters quietly complained that broadening the field lowered the winner’s mandate too much, theoretically allowing at least one artist to win with just over 10 percent of the vote.
The academy’s chief executive, Harvey Mason Jr., said in an interview this week that the academy had not heard of any such complaints, although similar complaints were made when board members voted to change the rules last month. I admit that I had my doubts.
“Will the votes be split? Is 10 too many? Will that minimize the nominations?” Mason said. “All these conversations were going on trying to figure out what the best numbers were.”
At the Grammy Awards in February, Harry Styles won Album of the Year for “Harry’s House,” ahead of releases by Beyoncé, Adele, Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny.
The changes announced on Friday are the third in five years. In 2018, the Academy increased the number of votes from five to eight. Three years later it went from 8 to 10.
In another change, the Grammy Awards are setting new eligibility criteria for album of the year collaborators. In recent years, the Grammy Awards have required contributors such as songwriters, engineers, and guest performers to appear on at least 33 percent of an album’s playtime, but the 2022 awards have lowered that standard to zero, adding that if Some changes have occurred. Over 100 names have been nominated.
This threshold has now been raised to 20%, culling out many songwriters and other contributors who only appear on one or two tracks of a regular album.
Among other changes, the Academy will introduce three awards next year: Best African Music Performance, Best Pop Dance Recording and Best Alternative Jazz Album.
These additions bring the total categories of the 66th Ceremony to 94, a number that is growing rapidly. As recently as three years ago, there were 84 Grammy Awards.
In another change that has surprised some in the music industry, the Grammy Awards recently changed the eligibility period for the 2024 awards twice. It initially announced a period of 11 months, then added two weeks, resulting in an unusual qualification period of 11 months and two weeks. The half-month from October 1, 2022 to September 15, 2023.
