Harvey Manson Jr., the CEO of the Recording Academy, organisers of the Grammy Awards, has revealed how winners of the prestigious prizes are selected.
Manson’s revelation came on the back of the controversy that trailed the 2024 edition of the award ceremony held at the Peacock Theater on Sunday evening.
Six Nigerian artistes lost their categories at the prestigious award ceremony; including Burna Boy (4) and Davido (3).
Tyla, the South African singer, also floored her Nigerian counterparts like Asake, Olamide, and Ayra Starr to win the ‘Best African Music Performance’, the newly introduced category.
Tems also lost the ‘Best Song Written for Visual Media’ category. She had been nominated for her contribution to the movie ‘The Black Panther (Wakanda Forever)’ with the song ‘Lift Me Up’ alongside Rihanna and Ludwig Goransson. But the award went to Billie Eilish and Finneas for their song ‘What Was I Made For’.
The development provoked a plethora of insinuations, misinformation, and disinformation regarding how award winners are selected by the Grammys.
But speaking on the matter in a now-viral video, Manson shared some key points on how to win the Grammys.
He said anyone who wants to win a Grammy must be “voted for by a member of the recording academy” who are music professionals in the United States.
Manson said Grammy Awards are won purely based on the viewpoints of the board members of the Recording Academy, which could sometimes be “subjective”.
The Recording Academy CEO clarified that winners are not voted for by “neither committees, labels, or journalists”.
He also disclosed that they do not take into account a singer’s huge sales, streams, and fan base but pick winners purely based on the “quality of their art”.
“You have to understand that the only way to win is to have the member of the academy vote for you. To be a member of the academy you have to be a professional, working in music in the United States for now. Hopefully, we grow that,” he said.
“But right now, if you are working professionally in the United States you can become a member of the recording academy. Once you are a member of the recording academy, all the music is submitted, the members listen to it and they evaluate it on the quality of the art. Not the sales, not the streams, not how many fans, but purely on the opinion. It is very hard, as you all know because it is subjective.
“It is no best song or best record, it is just the opinion of that membership of that particular year. That is how you win a Grammy. The voters vote. There is no committee, no journalist, and there are no labels. It is the music professionals voting for their peers.”
Jay Z, the US rapper, earlier slammed the Grammy Awards for “never giving” Beyonce, his wife, ‘Album of the Year’ category — despite her impressive record of 32 wins.
Last year, Angelique Kidjo said the Grammy Awards need to embrace “diversity and gender equality” to survive.
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