June 26, 2018
The following is a press release from the Recording Academy:
The GRAMMY Awards reflect what’s happening in the ever-changing landscape of music, and the Recording Academy works diligently to ensure the awards process continually evolves. Driven by the music makers — Academy members — who seek to meet the needs of the music community, several changes have been enacted for the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards process and categories.
For the four General Field categories — Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist — the number of nominations included in each will be increased from five to eight in order to better reflect the many entries in these categories.
Other changes put in place affect various categories including those in the World Music Field, which will now determine nominations through its own Nomination Review Committee where the top 15 selections from general voting membership’s ballots will be narrowed down to the final five nominations by a Trustee-ratified committee of Voting Member experts.
For Best Compilation Soundtrack Album, the growing role of Music Supervisors is recognized as eligible. Also, only Music Supervisors who produced more than half of an album will now be eligible for consideration as album producers.
Driven by the technological side of music evolution, the Best Surround Sound Album category is renamed Best Immersive Audio Album. The same goes for the Field to which it belongs. The change reflects evolving technology, new formats, and current industry trends, practices, and language.
Several category guidelines and/or definitions were also updated. For instance, the Best Alternative Music Album criteria and definition has been broadened and updated as, “Alternative is defined as a genre of music that embraces attributes of progression and innovation in both the music and attitudes associated with it. It is often a less intense version of rock or a more intense version of pop and is typically regarded as more original, eclectic, or musically challenging. It may embrace a variety of sub-genres or any hybrids thereof and may include recordings that don’t fit into other genre categories.”
These changes and other will be in effect for the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards, as the Recording Academy continues to ensure the process remains as appropriate, current, and relevant as possible.
For more information about this year’s rule changes and the GRAMMY Awards process, visit www.grammy101.com.