Harvey Mason jr. on 2,300 New Grammy Voting Members, the Asian Pop Category Uproar & More: ‘We Want To Bring More People Into the Tent’
Categoria: Musica
First-round Grammy voting, which determines the nominations for 2027, opens Monday and runs through Oct. 22.
Por Billboard | 09/10/2026
When first-round voting for the 69th annual Grammy Awards opens on Monday (Oct. 12), a considerably larger voting body will determine the nominees than in prior years. Related 2027 Grammy Changes: 5 New Categories, More Lenient Rules on Best New Artist Eligibility and More Grammys’ Asian Pop Category Will Go Forward at 2027 Ceremony, Recording Academy Confirms What Does the Big Change to the Best New Artist Grammy Mean for Nominees? The Recording Academy has revealed details of its 2026 new member class, which includes more than 2,300 new voting members. Here’s their demographic breakdown of these new voting members: People of color: 53%; people aged 39 or under: 54%; and women: 33%. The new member class also includes more than 800 professional members, who are non-voting. The 69th annual Grammy Awards will be presented on Feb. 7. The show will have a new host (Trevor Noah bowed out after six years) and will air/stream on new network platforms — ABC, Disney+ and Hulu — after the show ended a 54-year run on CBS. The Academy will present 100 awards on Feb. 7, the highest number since 2011. It added five categories in June, including one that attracted far more attention than the other four combined – best Asian pop music performance. Two of the biggest acts in Asian pop – BTS and Stray Kids – announced that they wouldn’t enter the category, not wishing to be pigeonholed. It’s fair to say the Academy did not anticipate that reaction. Harvey Mason jr. , who has been CEO of the Recording Academy since May 2021 (following a 16-month run as interim CEO), spoke with Billboard over Zoom on Wednesday (Oct. 7) for this wide-ranging discussion. You invited the largest new member class in your history – 4,000 people. And 3,100 people took you up on it, including 2,300 voting members. Do you anticipate continuing to add members at this pace, or can you see a day when you’ll just be maintaining? I don’t know if it’s necessarily maintaining or trying to add at a particular pace. It’s really about trying to make sure we get the right members who are relevant and qualified to be voters in our organization. As music grows and evolves and changes, I’m sure our membership will do the same. And I would imagine it would continue to grow as music is becoming more global, as more people are making music and working in our industry, so I could see some growth, but it’s going to be driven by our efforts to try and make sure our membership is the best possible membership we can assemble. More than half of this year’s new voting members are people of color, and more than half are people aged 39 and under. One-third are women. You’re obviously zeroing in on those three demographics. Do you have targets in mind where you’d like to wind up? Well, first, I would say we’re not really necessarily zeroing in just on those. We’re really zeroing in on holistically making sure our membership is reflective of whatR