Grammy Awards change voting system to aid equality

THE Grammy Awards will no longer be decided by anonymous committees, its organisers announced, after a number of artists claimed the secretive voting system was corrupt and racist.

The Recording Academy, which presents the annual Grammy Awards, announced it would scrap its voting committees and put the selection of next year’s nominees and winners “back in the hands of the entire voting membership body” instead.

It comes after stars including The Weeknd and Zayn Malik attacked the “secretive” selection of nominees and winners and the lack of representation for artists of colour.

Earlier this year The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, said he would boycott future awards after being snubbed in the 2021 nominations, despite his single Blinding Lights breaking records to spend more than a year in the top 10 Billboard charts.

The Canadian pop singer called the voting systems “corrupt” and “dated”. He echoed the criticism of other black stars such as Kanye West and Frank Ocean, who have highlighted the lack of diversity in the awards’ shortlists.

“If you were like, ‘Do you think the Grammys are racist?’ I think the only real answer is that in the last 61 years of the Grammys, only 10 Black artists have won album of the year,” the singer told earlier this year. Prior to this year’s March ceremony, British singer Malik also tweeted: “F--the Grammys and everyone associated. Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there’s no nomination considerations.”

The Grammys’ voting procedures have been notoriously opaque, with review committees of 15 to 30 people having the final say in 72 of the 83 categories.

The Academy, which denies being racist or corrupt, voted to eliminate the committees for the top four prizes and all genre categories in favour of allowing the entire voting membership, which runs into the thousands, to decide the nominees and winners.

However, committees will remain in place for the craft categories.

The overhaul of the voting procedures will include a “requalification process” for more than 90 per cent of the voting body to ensure those participating are “actively engaged in music creation”, the Academy said.

Harvey Mason, the interim president of the Recording Academy, said the changes reflected what had been a “year of unprecedented, transformational change” for the organisation.

“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,” he said.

The changes will be in effect for the 64th annual awards ceremony which will be held on Jan 31 2022.