Page 69 - Reggae Festival Guide Magazine 2019

eligible for the 2020 Grammys, the album must Q: Who decides which albums qualify and

have been released between October 1, 2018 make it onto the ballots?

– August 31, 2019 for the Grammy Awards A: The Reggae Screening Committee is the first

airing in January 2020. [To clarify: if your album step. Every genre at the Recording Academy has
comes out September 1, 2019 – a day after the a screening committee consisting of members who

qualifying period – you cannot submit for the are considered experts in that field, appointed by

2020 Grammys; it would be eligible for the 2021 the Recording Academy. All they do is review the

Grammys.] submissions that were submitted that year.

Q: What’s the process for submitting an The Screening Committee usually consists of that

album to the Recording Academy? genre’s tastemakers: booking agents, managers,

A: The project has to be released in the U.S. record labels, publicists, journalists, etc. Nine

and be an official release. The first round of times out of 10, the people on the committee

submissions (when people submit their projects aren’t even voters. They don’t determine who
to the Recording Academy for consideration) the five nominees are, or who wins. What

starts on June 24, 2019. In order to submit your they do determine is that the submissions are

project to the Recording Academy, you must be eligible according to the Academy’s bylaws,

a voting member, member of the Academy, or a which means: making sure it was released

record label that is recognized by the Academy. within the qualifying time period, that it is a

I am a voting member and able to submit on new recording and that it fits the rules of the

behalf of artists. genre. The guidelines are set by the Recording
Academy, so the people appointed in that room
Q: Why isn’t there a separate category for (screening committee), that’s the limit to the
dancehall music? * power they have.

A: We will probably never see a second category The good news is: 90% of the time, albums
for the simple fact that categories tend to be that have been submitted through the reggae

taken away, not given. We are lucky to have one category will make it through the submission

category. While our category isn’t in peril, we process and will be on the first ballot. The only

can’t express it enough that we need to make time that it won’t go through to the first ballot

sure that the submissions are there. This is why is when certain aspects of the album are in

it’s of the utmost importance for artists and question. For example, if there’s an album by
labels to keep submitting reggae albums to the a reggae artist, but it is mostly an alternative

Academy every year! If we have several years of rock album. If it doesn’t sound like reggae and

low submissions, our category can get deleted. the major portion of the recording isn’t reggae,

*Note: Cristy Barber has been involved with then it may possibly be bumped out for that

the Academy for years and started her “Voter year. Very rarely does that happen though, and

Awareness Campaign” back in 2003. For years, I repeat: almost all of the submissions make it

even prior to her involvement, petitions for a through the submission process.

second category – dancehall — were submitted When a record is taken out of the category that
to no avail. it was submitted to for that year, the screening

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