Grammy Awards announce new rules, categories to take effect next year

The 69th Grammy Awards have updated the guidelines for key categories, such as the Best New Artist and Best Album awards and will also see the addition of five new categories next year.

According to its website, under the Best New Artist category, the maximum number of times an artist may be submitted has been raised from three to four, while to be eligible under the Best Album category, the minimum number of new recordings needed is reduced from 75% to 66%.

Next year’s Grammys will also see the addition of the following five new categories:

• The Best Asian Pop Music Performance “recognises artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognised within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop…”

• Songs must be “predominantly in the Spanish language” in order to be considered for the new Best Latin Song award.

• The Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance award honours outstanding modern R&B performances by well-known duos or groups as well as joint performances by soloists, duos, and groups.

• The Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance “recognises excellence in singles and tracks that consist of a type and style of song and/or performance that cannot properly be intermingled with present forms of pop music.”

• Lastly, the Best Traditional Folk Album “recognises excellence in albums of traditional folk recordings. Awards are presented to artist(s), producer(s), engineer(s)/mixer(s), and songwriter(s) of new songs, if other than artist(s), of greater than 50% playing time on the album.”

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New categories meet mixed reactions

Increasing the number of categories made the event “more inclusive” and allowed the awards to “represent more music creators, artists, writers and producers,” said Grammys chief executive officer Harvey Mason Jr.

“In K-pop, awards mean visibility, and as more K-pop acts become eligible for Grammy nominations, they will also gain greater opportunities to attend and perform on one of the industry’s biggest stages … it’s a chance to broaden K-pop’s presence within the global music industry,” a representative from a K-pop agency stated.

However, while some regard it as a way for Asian musicians to get into the Grammy Awards, others state that separating international performers into regional genres keeps them from competing for mainstream, non-hyphenated accolades.

“K-pop’s influence, along with other Asian music, keeps growing in North America, and trying to also accommodate J-pop and C-pop seems to have produced this trick of bundling everything under ‘Asian,'” said critic Jung Min-jae.

“Still, lumping together the music of Asian countries that don’t have much in common leaves room for criticism… I think we need to wait and see how it plays out next year.”

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