Grammys CEO Shares Criteria Used To Select Winners In Throwback Video, Amid Backlash From Nigerians
Following Nigerians' sense of marginalization, an old video of American record producer and Recording Academy chairman Harvey Mason Jr. talking about the standards the Academy used to choose winners reappeared online.
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In an inadvertently discovered video, the CEO of the Grammy Awards acknowledged that chart-topping achievements and sales are not requirements for taking home the prestigious music award. The internet was infuriated by this discovery.
The CEO of the Grammy Awards discusses the selection criteria in a throwback video, drawing criticism from Nigerians.
Harvey underlined that having a vast global audience and selling millions of CDs does not guarantee winning the prestigious award.
According to him, living in the United States of America and being a member of the GRAMMY Academy are required to get an award.
He emphasized that after nominations are received, fellow Recording Academy members should vote for their peers.
His words:
“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,”
