Introduction to How the Grammys Work


Photo courtesy National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.
Music is a very big business -- the U.S. recording industry produced about $12 billion worth of CDs, cassettes, LPs and singles in 2004 [ref], and most people listen to some of them every day. At the GRAMMY® Awards, the industry recognizes the people who create all this music. Unlike many other music awards, the GRAMMYs recognize artistic and technical achievements rather than sales success.

The GRAMMY ceremony itself has a red carpet, a throng of reporters and winners who thank the Academy, much like the Oscars and the Emmys. Awards night at the GRAMMYs, though, has as much to do with live performances as with who takes home the statuettes.

But who nominates the artists, and who selects the winners? In this article, you'll learn the answers to these and other questions about the GRAMMYs.

Musical Fields Recognized by the GRAMMYs
Album Notes
Musical Show
Alternative
New Age
Blues
Package
Children's
Polka
Classical
Pop
Comedy
Production, Classical
Composing/Arranging
Production, Non-Classical
Country
R&B
Dance
Rap
Film/TV/Visual Media
Reggae
Folk
Rock
Gospel
Spoken Word
Historical
Surround Sound
Jazz
Traditional Pop
Latin
World Music
Music Video

The Recording Academy

The GRAMMY® Awards are a product of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, or the Recording Academy. Founded in 1957, the Recording Academy is a professional music organization. All of its members are creative or technical music professionals, such as singers, composers, producers, art directors and engineers.

The Recording Academy has two membership levels -- associate and voting. All voting members are producers, performers or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album.


Photo courtesy National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.
The Recording Academy hosts GRAMMY Signature Schools educational events as part of
its GRAMMY in the Schools program.

In addition to organizing the GRAMMYs, the Recording Academy works with musicians and lawmakers on legal issues like digital music downloading. The Recording Academy has also organized the GRAMMY Foundation for music awareness as well as the MusiCares Foundation, which provides emergency assistance and addiction recovery programs for people in the music industry.

The Recording Academy is most famous for its annual awards. We'll look at the GRAMMYs next.

Recording Academy Chapters
The Recording Academy is a national organization with chapters in:
  • Atlanta
  • Austin
  • Chicago
  • Florida
  • Los Angeles
  • Memphis
  • Nashville
  • New York
  • Pacific Northwest (Seattle)
  • Philadelphia
  • San Francisco
  • Washington, D.C.
    •

The GRAMMY


Photo courtesy National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.
Every year, the Recording Academy gathers nominations for the GRAMMY® Awards. Associate and voting members can nominate artists online or by mail, as can major and independent record labels who have registered with the Awards department. To be eligible, recordings must have been released in general commercial distribution in the United States between October 1 of the previous year and September 30 of the current year.

Once the Recording Academy receives the nominations, expert reviewers organize them. No judging takes place during this step -- its purpose is only to sort each nomination into one of 31 musical fields, such as rap, country, jazz and rock. Although people most often associate the GRAMMYs with music, the awards also recognize comedy, spoken word recordings and music videos. As the industry evolves, the Awards & Nominations Committee can also add fields or change the existing ones. The Academy Trustees must approve the changes.

After sorting the nominations, the Recording Academy mails ballots to its voting members. The purpose of this first round of voting is to select five nominees for each award. To make sure the voting process is accurate, members may vote:

  • For the four general categories of Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist

  • In a maximum of nine of the 31 fields, all within their areas of expertise
Members return their ballots to the independent accounting firm Deloitte, which tallies the votes.

Record vs. Album of the Year
Record of the Year and Album of the Year may sound like nearly identical awards, but they recognize two different achievements. The Record of the Year award recognizes one specific track or commercially released single, and the Album of the Year award recognizes an entire album.

The Recording Academy then distributes a second round of ballots to each voting member. This time, the member may vote for the four general categories and in a maximum of eight of the 31 fields. Deloitte tallies the votes and places the results in envelopes which remain sealed until the ceremony.

Most people associate the GRAMMY Awards with the televised awards show and its live performances. But the Awards cover far more categories than you see on TV. In 2005, the Recording Academy awarded GRAMMYs in 107 categories within the 31 fields. In addition to the most well-known awards like Song of the Year, the Recording Academy recognizes a wide range of musical accomplishments, down to album notes and package design. The Recording Academy presents most of these awards separately on the afternoon of the televised ceremony.

Regardless of whether they receive their award on live TV or earlier in the day, each winner gets a small statue of a gramophone. The GRAMMYs get their nickname from these statues.

For lots more information about music and the GRAMMYs, check out the links on the next page.

Other Awards
In addition to the awards that recognize specific songs, albums and artists every year, some special awards recognize other achievements, such as:
  • Lifetime Achievement

  • Technical Award

  • Trustees Award, for non-performing contributors to the music industry

  • Legend Award, for ongoing contributions to music

  • GRAMMY Hall of Fame, for recordings 25 years old or older that have significant historical importance
Nominating committees usually select winners for these awards rather than the entire voting membership.

Lots More Information

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