Lots of changes for the Grammy Awards this morning.
For Album of the Year, the amount of original material is reduced to just 66%.
Best New Artists can be submitted four times until something clicks. This works out the problem of indie artists going to labels, and unrecognized label artists catching on with their third or fourth release.
There’s a special category for K Pop and Asian records.
Some of the R&B categories have changed to reflect featured and guest stars on records.
Gotta change with the times!
PS In Best Traditional Pop Performance this year, it’s going to be all about Paul McCartney, and also the Rolling Stones. Watch for Andrew Watt to receive Best Producer, Non-Classical.
NEW CATEGORIES
Best Asian Pop Music Performance
This Category recognizes artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, with meaningful use of one or more Asian languages. Awards are presented to the performing artist(s).
Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance*
This Category recognizes excellence in contemporary R&B performances for works by established duos or groups, as well as collaborative works between solo artists, duos and groups. Awards are presented to the performing artist(s).
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance
This Category recognizes excellence in singles and tracks that consist of a type and style of song and/or performance that cannot properly be intermingled with present forms of pop music. Awards are presented to the performing artist(s).
Best Traditional Folk Album**
This Category recognizes excellence in albums of traditional folk recordings. Awards are presented to artist(s), producer(s), engineer(s)/mixer(s), and songwriter(s) of new songs, if other than artist(s), of greater than 50% playing time on the album.
Best Latin Song
This Category recognizes the achievement of songwriters for newly written Latin songs predominantly in the Spanish language (at least 51% of the lyrics). Awards are presented to the songwriter(s) of new material.
*With the addition of this new category, the Best R&B Performance Category has been revised and renamed Best R&B Solo Performance.
**With the addition of this new category, the Best Folk Album Category has been revised and renamed Best Contemporary Folk Album.
DEFINITION, ELIGIBILITY & CRITERIA UPDATES
Best New Artist
Category description language and guidelines have been refined and a maximum number of times an artist may be submitted increased from three to four. These updates provide greater clarity around an artist’s impact during the eligibility period and more flexibility in the number of times an artist can submit, reflecting the evolving nature of artist development.
Album Eligibility
The threshold of new recordings required on an eligible album is lowered from 75% to 66% to reduce the exclusion of entries that are widely recognized throughout the music industry as new albums.
Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album
Internet-only releases are eligible in Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album if the additional materials and album notes are part of the commercial download, ensuring albums released solely in digital form remain eligible for consideration.
Songwriters and Composers Recognition Expansion
Songwriters and Composers of new material on the winning albums in most genre album Categories will now receive Grammy statuettes and Achievement Certificates in parity with the recognition currently afforded to Producers and Engineers in those categories.
