Grammys: Talent or Money?

As we witnessed the 66th Grammy awards, there is no doubt that the music industry has immense talent. But is it really about the talent now or is it about the popularity and what can make the most money?

While most of the mass awaits the award show, it has been under great scrutiny in recent times. Many highlight the possibility of corruption as the winners of the awards are usually the one featuring in tabloids, rather than the one featuring in the top lists.

One might argue that the Grammy features quite a variety of awards for “inclusivity” of the so-called lesser popular genres. But it cannot be unseen that the major awards of Record of the year, Song of the year, Album of the year and the Best New Artist- also known as the “General Field” -are generally won by artists whose music majorly feature “popular” genres. Genres such as classical, folk, et cetera have rarely won these sets of awards.

And the vague voting/judging system adds fuel to the fire. Each genre has nominations nominated by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), which comprises media companies and individuals. Each genre has their own committee which assess the nominations based on the musical and technical quality. The committee has industry experts whose identities remain anonymous. And these committees are selected by the voting members which includes artists, songwriters, music producers and engineers.

There is no way to find the criteria based on which the winners are chosen due to the anonymity of the members of the committee. Moreover, there is no prohibition on the committee members if the genre they are reviewing are not their expertise, so there is no assurance that the judgement made were legitimate.

It is therefore nearly impossible to rule out the existence of bias in the process. The voting members as well as the review committees are far from a neutral standpoint. And the suspense about their identities makes it a bigger reason to question the legitimacy of the system.

This goes as far as the Recording Academy's former CEO, Deborah Duncun, speaking about the favouritism and bias of the Academy, alleging that the Academy puts their financial interests above the deserving, talented artists.

As far as the music itself is concerned, it is true that “good” and “bad” is highly subjective but we can all agree that if a song is being acclaimed by the majority of the masses, it should get its credit. But it is clearly visible that certain songs topping the charts don't even make it to the final nominations of the awards. And it has happened on more occasions than the awards can justify at this point.

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