The organisers of the Grammy Awards have decided to remove its secret nomination review committees. This is the group that determines the contenders for key awards at the mega show. The decision comes amid the corruption and rigging allegations.
A meeting of the board of trustees was held on Friday that approved this major decision. Following the meeting, the academy’s interim president and CEO Harvey Mason Jr issued a statement and mentioned that that nominations for the next Grammy Awards (which will be held in January 2022) will be selected by all of its more than 11,000 voting members and not by committees of 15-30 industry experts. “This is a new Academy, one that is driven to action and that has doubled down on the commitment to meeting the needs of the music community. While change and progress are key drivers of our actions, one thing will always remain — the Grammy Award is the only peer-driven and peer-voted recognition in music,” he said.
Earlier this year, Canadian singer The Weeknd slammed the Grammys and called them “corrupt”. He questioned why he wasn’t nominated even in a single category despite having the year’s biggest single with ‘Blinding Lights.’ However, The Weeknd is not the only one who called for transparency in the Grammys nominations. In March this year, singer Zayn Malik also called for an end to secret committees. American pop star Halsey also joined this list last year and called the nominations process ‘elusive’.
The Academy has also introduced two new awards categories namely the best global music performance and best música urbana album.