ACADEMY ADJUSTS MEMBERSHIP RULES

The Recording Academy has taken another step to better represent the current music industry in its membership rolls, creating a community-driven and peer-reviewed membership model.

Effective immediately, the new member submission process will shift to an annual cycle and entail two key elements: industry recommendations and peer review. Basic requirements remain the same though now each new member submission must include two professional recommendations.

A Peer Review Panel of music creators will convene each spring to evaluate all new member submissions and will consider a range of criteria—craft, genre, overall diversity—in determining whom to invite into the Recording Academy. The move to an annual review cycle will enable the Recording Academy to look at both its existing membership base and prospective submissions.

“Our new membership model puts the power in the hands of the music community and is designed to build an active, representative membership base that reflects our broader culture,” said Laura Segura Mueller, Vice President of Membership & Industry Relations. “By changing the process to Recording Academy membership, we remain committed to setting a positive example for the music industry as a whole."

The Academy is calling this the most significant change in its membership policy in the organization's 60-year-plus history. The details are here.