BEHIND THE SCENES, GRAMMYS GRIPPED IN CONTROVERSY

Tchen, the former chief of staff for Michelle Obama — which was convened after an outcry over the representation of women at the awards — made a number of recommendations to help diversify the institution; most are being implemented.

“We’re all disappointed when anyone is upset,” Mason said in response to the Weeknd’s statement. “But I will say that we are constantly evolving. And this year, as in past years, we are going to take a hard look at how to improve our awards process, including the nomination review committees.”

Even though this process is publicly disclosed, it is still largely not understood by the music world. The four pop categories, for example, have no such committees.

As part of its efforts to change, the academy has invited thousands of new members, hired a diversity officer and brought more women and people of color into its committees and leadership. Pre-grammy events this week have included “Women in the Mix,” highlighting women in production and engineering fields, and a gathering of the Black Music Collective, a new advisory group that aims to “amplify Black voices.”

“The changes have been transformative,” Mason said in an interview.

The Grammys are not alone in promising to change. After last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, major record companies, broadcasters and streaming platforms pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in donations and said they would work to make the music world more inclusive and equitable.

But the Grammys are an especially public target, and whether the academy’s moves will satisfy its critics is unclear.

The conflict with the Weeknd goes to the heart of concerns that the Grammys’ voting procedure is flawed. It also illustrates the fulcrum that the Grammys are supposed to represent between art and commerce: Its purpose is to recognize the work that its members — artists, producers and songwriters — value most highly, but the academy inevitably faces pressure to reward success.

Chris Anokute, a longtime music executive, said he trusted Mason as a leader but was less trusting of what happens behind closed doors at the academy. The Weeknd, Anokute said, “clearly made the album of the year,” at least as far as popularity goes.

“If his peers didn’t vote for him, that’s a shame — if that’s the truth,” Anokute said. “We don’t really believe that’s the truth; there’s just no way. But we really don’t know.”

For viewers at home, these issues may be invisible. The Grammys, originally planned for January, were postponed six weeks over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus in California. The show’s new executive producer, Ben Winston, has designed the Grammys as an antidote to disconnected pandemic awards shows that feel like video conferences.

Performances will occur on five stages, arranged facing each other in the round, near the awards’ usual home of the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Some will be taped, some live, but the continuity of their presentation will make it hard to tell which is which.

“This is not a virtual Grammys,” said Winston, who is an executive producer of “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” in an interview. “Zoom fatigue is not something that will be part of the show in any way.”

For industry insiders, practically the entire event will be a reminder about the Weeknd and the questions raised by his absence.

To critics, the purpose of the nomination review committees is murky. Mason said they were established in 1989 “to eliminate the potential for a general-awareness bias that might favor artists who enjoy greater name recognition over emerging artists, independent music and late-year releases.” The Grammy voting process, he added, “is 100% peer-driven.”

The makeup of committees is kept confidential to protect them from industry lobbying and fan attacks, Mason said. Committee members, selected by the academy, review the music shortlisted by voters and whittle those names down to a final ballot. In all but the top four categories — album, record and song of the year, and best new artist — committee members can add names not initially selected by voters, according to official Grammy rules.

Yet by enforcing their judgment over those of rank-and-file members, the committees have drawn questions about their motivations. Dugan accused the committees of favoring artists with connections to academy board members. Mason declined to comment on her allegations.

A member of Tchen’s task force, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss its work, portrayed the role of the committees as contradicting the academy’s public position that awards are fully decided by industry peers. “The idea came through,” this person said, “that they do not want it just voted on by the hobbledehoy of the music industry.”

Wassim Slaiby, the manager of the Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye), said in an email interview that it was still unclear why his client was not nominated. “We were many weeks and dozens of calls in with the Grammy team around Abel’s performance, right up to the day of nominations being announced,” said Slaiby, who is known as Sal. “We were scratching our heads in confusion and wanted answers.”

While the Weeknd tweeted his displeasure at being locked out of the nominations, some observers wondered online whether a desire not to have talent overlap at the Grammys and the Super Bowl — both on CBS and originally scheduled just a week apart — was an issue. The Grammys denied that the Weeknd’s shutout had anything to do with the halftime booking, saying that the voting for nominations had ended before his NFL performance was announced. And of course it is possible that voters simply did not favor the Weeknd.

For now, attention has focused on the committees, with many in the music world agitating for them to be reformed or abolished altogether. Mason, who is also chair of the academy’s board, said there have been discussions at the academy about scrapping the committee process, following proposals by members, but he declined to elaborate further.

Slaiby said he hoped his client’s stance inspires other artists to speak out.

“The Grammys should handle their legacy and clean it up to raise the bar to a level where everyone could be proud to hold up that award,” he said. “This is Harvey’s chance to step up and have his legacy be the guy who got the Grammys finally right.”