Grammy's Still Clueless About Reggae
I wrote this article in 1997 and it is still true today, 22 years later.
Every year, the Grammys seem to be more and more clueless when it comes to Reggae. That’s mostly because the voting members are clueless when it comes to Reggae. They only hear what‘s in the news, and 90% of them don’t listen to Reggae.
Most of the time they vote based on the fact that they recognize a persons name. (Whether they recognized the name because the person was just in jail or whether the person has a talk show or whether the person’s last name is Marley, those are the reasons they recognize someone’s name and those are the reasons why they will vote for a specific artist or album).
Sad but true.
The process begins with record companies submitting entries.
These entries are then screened by these Academy’s voting members for eligibility and category placement.
At this point, there could be hundreds of entries in each category.
The Academy’s voting members then cast votes until each category is narrowed down to 5 or 6 entries (based on the number of votes received).
Those 5 or 6 entries are known as the nominees, and “the nominees” are usually announced mid-November, each year.
Then there is another voting process where members cast votes once more. This time, they’re only voting on the 5 or 6 nominations in each category.
The results of this final voting process is kept a secret until the night of the awards ceremony which is usually early February, the following year.
The entry with the most votes in each category is then declared the winner of the Grammy.
(SIDE NOTE: You can apply to become a voting member on the Grammy’s official website. The last time I checked, you had to have certain qualifications. For example, you have to be a producer or a writer etc. If you have any knowledge at all of Reggae music, please apply).
Every year, the Grammys seem to be more and more clueless when it comes to Reggae. That’s mostly because the voting members are clueless when it comes to Reggae. They only hear what‘s in the news, and 90% of them don’t listen to Reggae.
Most of the time they vote based on the fact that they recognize a persons name. (Whether they recognized the name because the person was just in jail or whether the person has a talk show or whether the person’s last name is Marley, those are the reasons they recognize someone’s name and those are the reasons why they will vote for a specific artist or album).
Sad but true.
The process begins with record companies submitting entries.
These entries are then screened by these Academy’s voting members for eligibility and category placement.
At this point, there could be hundreds of entries in each category.
The Academy’s voting members then cast votes until each category is narrowed down to 5 or 6 entries (based on the number of votes received).
Those 5 or 6 entries are known as the nominees, and “the nominees” are usually announced mid-November, each year.
Then there is another voting process where members cast votes once more. This time, they’re only voting on the 5 or 6 nominations in each category.
The results of this final voting process is kept a secret until the night of the awards ceremony which is usually early February, the following year.
The entry with the most votes in each category is then declared the winner of the Grammy.
(SIDE NOTE: You can apply to become a voting member on the Grammy’s official website. The last time I checked, you had to have certain qualifications. For example, you have to be a producer or a writer etc. If you have any knowledge at all of Reggae music, please apply).