GRAMMYS PROMOTE DIVERSITY VIA INCLUSION RIDER

The 64th Annual Grammy Awards will be produced with an inclusion rider to guarantee equity at every level of the production.

The Recording Academy will partner on the rider with Color of Change as part of the larger #ChangeMusic initiative. Academy Co-President Valeisha Butterfield Jones is collaborating on the project with Kalpana Kotagal, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, Pearl Street Films Head of Strategic Outreach Fanshen Cox and Ryan Butler of the Warner Music/Blavatnik Center for Music Business at Howard University.

The Recording Academy will render the rider as an addendum to a contract with the production company responsible for the Grammy Awards. This addendum will obligate the company to make its best effort to recruit, audition, interview and hire people who've been historically and systematically excluded from the industry.

"We're honored to work alongside Color of Change and the inclusion rider's esteemed co-authors as we take this monumental step to ensure equitable industry standards that support a more diverse and inclusive music community," said Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. "As the Academy continues its transformational journey, diversifying our industry is at the core of every decision we make. We're dedicated to fostering an environment of inclusion industry-wide and hope that our efforts set an example for our peers in the music community."

The Recording Academy has been working to bring inclusion riders to the industry since 2019. It says the 2022 Grammys will be the first major music awards-show production to publicly commit to an inclusion rider, an innovation that originated in the film and television industries.

The rider will be released publicly on 9/16.