The Grammys To Introduce a Rap Review Committee

There will be some Grammy changes on the horizon.

For the first time ever, there will be online voting beg 2018. The Recording Academy has eliminated the paper ballot and hopes that the switch over to a digitized voting process will increase participation from younger members. In addition, there will be new review committees for the rap, contemporary instrumental, and New Age categories.

The Recording Academy explains that the committees serve “as an additional round of checks and balances to eliminate the potential for a popularity bias that puts emerging artists, independent music, and late-year releases at a disadvantage.”

“For Rap, and the other categories to a degree, a lot of their argument was kind of similar—it was going more to big-name folks and felt like more of a popularity contest,” Bill Freimuth, the Academy’s senior vice president of awards, told Variety. “That’s not to say that someone who’s very famous can’t put out a fantastic track or album, but maybe some younger up-and-coming folks deserve that spotlight.”

The 60th annual Grammy Award nominations will be announced Nov. 28. The awards show is set to air Jan. 28, 2018 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

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