It’s been a rough few years for the Grammy Awards. Recording Academy, the organization that puts on the annual music awards, has been beset by controversy and questions of waning relevancy since 2019.
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Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, Jr., is well aware of this, telling Forbes the Academy is “all in” on mending the award show’s tarnished image.
“We’re a very different organization than we were four or five years ago,” Mason said. “I hope we’re starting to build that relevance back.”
Former CEO Alleged Corruption, Sexual Misconduct and Gender Inequality
The trouble came to a head in January 2020, when ousted CEO Deborah Dugan filed a legal complaint describing a “boys club mentality” culture of gender discrimination, sexual misconduct and corruption among the Academy’s highest executives.
Best New Artist Alessia Cara was the lone female winner at the 2018 Grammys. Singer-songwriter Lorde, the sole woman nominated for Album of the Year, was not invited to perform that year, Harper’s Bazaar reported.
Dugan’s complaint also detailed an allegedly tainted voting process. Submissions for awards are initially voted on by the members of the Academy, with the top 20 entries reviewed by smaller committees to narrow down the list to the final five to eight nominees for each category, according to Harper’s Bazaar.
However, Dugan claimed the board used the committees to promote artists they have relationships with, and “manipulated the nominations process” to include songs that Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich wanted performed during the ceremony.
The Academy also faced backlash after stars like Kendrick Lamar declined invitations to attend the Grammys, and winners like Drake were cut off at the podium.
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So What’s Changed?
In May 2021, Mason became the first Black person to hold the top executive title in the Recording Academy’s 67-year history. He has since made it his mission to revamp the nonprofit’s image, eliminating its secret voting and expanding membership. The Academy has 11,000 voting members, 19 percent of whom identify as Black, according to Forbes.
“You’re going to see a lot of different looks, a lot of different faces, ages, genders, races… My hope is that we can use the platform of the Academy and the Grammy, specifically, and February 4, as… an occasion to unify,” Mason told Forbes.
“That’s what music has done throughout history,” he continued. “That’s what I’m hoping we can continue to do.”
(Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
