2025 Grammy Awards: No New Categories, But 10 Rule Tweaks

For the first time in four years, the Recording Academy hasn’t added new categories for the 67th annual Grammy Awards, scheduled for February 2, 2025. The event will feature 94 categories, the same as last year. In recent years, the number of categories has significantly changed, increasing from 84 in 2021 to 86 in 2022, 91 in 2023, and 94 in 2024.

The Grammy Awards started with 28 categories in 1959, reaching 47 in 1975, and peaked at 110 categories in 2008 and 2009. The academy also announced amendments to its rules and guidelines, approved at the semiannual board of trustees meeting held from May 22-24 in Laguna Niguel, California. These updates are effective immediately.

The Recording Academy’s awards and nominations committee, composed of voting members, reviews proposals annually to update categories, procedures, and eligibility guidelines. The academy’s trustees then ratify their recommendations.

The 67th annual Grammy Awards will take place at Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) in Los Angeles, which has hosted the event almost every year since 2000. First-round voting to determine the nominations will occur from October 4 to October 15, with nominations announced on November 8. Final-round voting will be conducted from December 12 through January 3, 2025, ending nearly a month before the winners are announced. The event will be broadcast live on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.

Amendments to Rules and Guidelines

General Changes:

1. Featured Artists: All eligible credited featured artists with under 50% playtime will now receive a winners’ certificate for all genre album categories. Previously, only producers and engineers with less than 50% playtime, mastering engineers, immersive producers, and immersive engineers/mixers received certificates. This rule does not apply to the best musical theatre album, craft categories, or the general field categories (album, record, and song of the year, best new artist, producer of the year, non-classical and songwriter of the year, non-classical).

2. Media Company Fees: The fee for media companies to enter a recording in the online entry process has increased from $120 to $180. Media companies pay 20% more than the annual fee paid by individuals for membership.

Category-Specific Changes:

1. Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical: The category will no longer exclude “non-performing” and “non-producing” songwriters for clarity. The minimum submission threshold has been reduced from five to four songs. Songwriters can now enter up to five songs where they are credited as a primary or featured artist or in any other supporting role.

2. Best Dance/Electronic Music Album: Renamed to best dance/electronic album. Albums must be composed of at least 50% dance/electronic recordings.

3. Best Remixed Recording: Moved from the production, engineering, composition & arrangement field to the pop & dance/electronic field.

4. Best Pop Dance Recording: Renamed to best dance pop recording.

5. Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Expanded to include more entries from the musical theatre community. Albums must contain over 75% newly recorded (previously unreleased) performances.

6. Best Traditional R&B Performance: Updated to recognise recordings with classic R&B/soul elements, distinguishing them from contemporary interpretations.

7. Best Children’s Music Album: Now requires lyrics and English language translations with submissions. The intended audience age range is defined as an infant to 12 years old.

8. Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media: Greater than 50% of the music must come from new episodes or programming released during the eligibility year.

9. Conjunto Music: Now recognised in the best regional roots music album category rather than the best música Mexicana album (including Tejano) category.

These updates aim to sharpen the focus of specific categories and ensure broader representation and clarity within the Grammy Awards framework.

Source: Billboard

Read more: Unidentified Aircrafts Flying Over Aso Rock, Restricted Airspaces Raise Security Concerns

About The Author

Ikenna Churchill

editor

See author's posts