The Chief Executive Officer for the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr. has revealed the criteria used in selecting winners for the 2024 Grammy Award.
In a video posted online, Harvey Mason revealed that having a vast audience does not qualify one for the award, and neither does selling millions of copies of albums.
Recall that the 2024 Grammy Award was held last Sunday, 4th February 2024 at the crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, United States. Also, recall that after the award was presented to the ‘qualified’ winners, lots of people especially in the African diaspora complained that there was a bias in the selection method as most African music lords were not selected. Nigerian top artists like Burna Boy, Davido, Tems, Olamide, etc did not receive any awards despite being nominated on different nomination counts.
To clear the airways and let the public know that there was no bias in the selection process, Harvey Jason, the Chief Executive Officer for the Recording Academy has sent a video, explaining the selection process and method. Watch the video here
Furthermore, Mason said;
“First you have to understand, that the only way to win a Grammy is to have the Membership of the Academy vote for you,”
“In order to be a member of the Academy you have to be a music professional working in the United States, for now. For now, it’s only in the United States of America, hopefully, we grow then. Right now, if you are a working professional in the USA you can become a member of the Recording Academy
“Once you are a member of the Academy, all the music is submitted the members listen to it and they evaluate it based on the quality of the art not the sales, not the streams not on the followers or how many fans… it is purely on the art.
“It’s purely on the opinion and as you all know it is very hard because it is subjective. There is no best song, best record it is just the opinion of the Membership in that particular year. That is how you win a Grammy and that is it.
“The voters vote, there is no committee, there is no journalist, no labels just music professionals voting for their peers, period.”
