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’
First-round Grammy voting, which determines the nominations for 2027, opens Monday and runs through Oct. 22.
The Recording Academy announced details of its 2026 new member class, which includes over 2,300 new voting members. This demographic breakdown reveals that 53% of the new voting members are people of color, 54% are under 39 years old, and 33% are women. The new member class also consists of more than 800 professional members, who are not eligible to vote.
The 69th annual Grammy Awards will take place on February 7, hosted by Trevor Noah after his six-year tenure. The ceremony will be broadcast on ABC, Disney+, and Hulu following its 54-year run on CBS. The Academy added five categories in June, with the most attention-grabbing one being the Best Asian Pop Music Performance. Two of the biggest acts in Asian pop, BTS and Stray Kids, opted out of the category, fearing it would label them.
Harvey Mason Jr., the CEO of the Recording Academy since May 2021, discussed the membership growth during a recent interview with Billboard. He emphasized the importance of ensuring the membership reflects the growing global nature of music and demographics. Mason Jr. expressed a desire to maintain a growth trajectory in membership, but it will be driven by the organization's efforts to assemble the best possible voting members.
Written by urgent.news from Billboard's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
