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Honestly? To me the Grammy telecast happens, three hours later it ends and that’s that ‘til next year—apart from whatever wrap-up the other editors make me write about it because they’re too drunk.

GRAMMY 101:
A TWENTYSOMETHING’S TAKE

Our Resident Hench-Hipster Surveys What’s New—and What Isn’t--in the Academy’s Rules
by Samantha Hissong

With 57 years under its belt, The Recording Academy and Grammy committees are doing their best to stay current and adapt to the changing climate in the music biz.

With fans increasingly less loyal to specific genres, the growing amount of format-crossing tracks, the rise of EDM and the decline of traditional rock, a lot has changed. The Academy says it’s ready to roll with the punches.

On Wednesday night in Santa Monica, The Academy hosted its annual Grammy 101 event to explain the annual entry submission and nomination process, along with the upcoming awards’ specific modifications. As HITS’ twenty-something #henchhipster, I found the event informative and beguiling.

The lack of air-conditioning (due to filming) and crush of bodies in the intimate space caused me to sweat in my vintage ‘90s Armani blazer, thrifted and complete with shoulder pads, but otherwise the evening went swimmingly. And yes, I did refer to a ‘90s jacket as "vintage". Get over it.

Honestly? To me the Grammy telecast happens, three hours later it ends and that’s that ‘til next year—apart from whatever wrap-up the other editors make me write about it because they’re too drunk.

Once the curtain drops (so to speak), after awards are personalized and delivered, meetings are held to delegate changes deemed crucial to maintaining the show’s relevance. This can backfire. In 1979, for example, disco received a category and in 1980 the Academy realized that disco had died.

RIP, disco; your white bell-bottoms will be missed. Though not by me.

Figuring out where everything belongs is a daunting process. Over 22k entries were received last year, and team NARAS has to touch each entry AT LEAST twice. And FYI, the first finalized, printed entry list is the size and weight of a phone book. Or so I’m told—I’ve never actually used a phone book.

The evening’s presenter, SVP Awards Bill Freimuth, announced the modifications that will be active for the 2015 Grammy Awards, set for 2/8.

Among the more interesting rule changes is in the Best New Artist category. "A previous songwriting Grammy nomination will disqualify the artist," the new regulation decrees, "if the nominated song had gained its prominence through a performance by the songwriter as the primary artist." This was explained as the rare "Ed Sheeran rule." Apparently, a lot of confused discourse arose when Ed Sheeran was nominated for Song of the Year (as a songwriter on "The A-Team") and performed said song on the telecast, only to then be nominated for Best New Artist the following year.

The arrangement categories have been changed to allow vocal arrangements to compete with instrumental entries, including Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella and a category for mixed work, Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals. I guess Pitch Perfect and those viral vids from RCA’s newly signed Pentatonix really got people worked up.

The trustees are also now allowing samples or interpolations of previously written songs in all songwriting categories, including Song of the Year. Previously, samples were only allowed in the rap category, but even those songs weren’t eligible in the general categories like Song of the Year.

The alternative field has been defined by music that "utilizes new technology or new production techniques and contains elements of rock, pop, dance, folk or even classical music styles."

During the Q&A, one woman asked for an explanation of what defines alternative music, because to her, "growing up, alternative music was Third Eye Blind, Alanis Morissette and Coldplay. It doesn’t seem to have any base in rock anymore." Freimuth quickly retorted that it never really did. "This Best Alternative Music Album category is intended for recordings that take as a starting point any existing musical genre or combination of genres, and expand and redefine the boundaries of those genres."

According to these guidelines, Eric Church’s The Outsiders, which makes country songs sound like Metallica, is a perfect example of music that could be included, but will it be?
Freimuth explained that people become perplexed due to the radio format being centralized around modern rock for so long, but that, in actuality, it’s really about cross-breeding and morphing genres until the music defies categories. "Nothing would make me happier," he insisted, "than to see an urban alternative album get nominated."

The Q&A segment allowed attendees to probe these more subjective guidelines. ""Where does hip-hop fall into all of this? It’s not rap," ventured one woman in the audience, "According to our definition, that’s exactly what it is," Freimuth replied. "Members of that community have explained to us that the term ‘hip-hop’ refers to the culture, while the term ‘rap’ refers to the music."

At that moment I experienced a sensation of clarity—a feeling that’s extremely rare in the HITS offices.

The Best Pop Instrumental Album category has been moved from the pop field into a new field, Contemporary Instrumental Music, because the submissions they were getting were not really pop, as pop is typically considered a lyrically based format; instead they were receiving more classical or jazz pieces. It’s been renamed and redefined as Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.

They’ve also moved Best Traditional Pop Album into the Pop Field and changed the name of the Dance/Electronica field to Dance/Electronic, because apparently that "a" made the word "dated." Of course, President Glauber prefers to describe that category as "the sound of crickets chirping."

Naturally someone asked, "How does streaming fit into this?" Freimuth answered that it isn’t really in play now, but that it is being discussed, due to its growing relevance in music consumption. Apparently, to be eligible, it’s important that work be available commercially, so that things aren’t opened up to YouTube, allowing any five-year-old singing into a hairbrush to be submitted.

With artist-run sites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud, along with tastemaker blogs having the ability to embed non-commercial tracks, the issue of the viral star’s role in the Grammys will surely need to be addressed soon. We’ll just have to wait and see how soon.

Lastly, the Academy is preparing a "For Your Consideration" website through Grammy Pro. Apparently, there’ll be a different page for every single category, and artists are allowed and encouraged to upload or provide links to their entry, based on where it’s categorized by the committees. The forthcoming site places NARAS in the realm of social media, providing a platform for interactivity and an opportunity to highlight the underdogs.

After more talk about the paths to nomination, specialized craft committees and a delving into even more category changes, I took a quick round-about and a stretch of the legs, I made my journey home to the land of valley rats and stopped at my local dive bar, before dreaming of golden phonographs and wondering if anyone will ever be brave enough to don a red-carpet outfit similar to Lil Kim at the 1999 VMAs.

And that, friends, is all she wrote.

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