As we all know by now, there’s plenty of exclusive music available only on select streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and TIDAL. However, until now, this content has been unrecognized by organizations such as The Recording Academy who previously stated that music must be sold in a physical or digital fashion in order to be eligible for a Grammy Award. This is all changing as the Academy has recently announced that amendments made to the Grammys will now count streaming service-exclusive for eligibility to receive a Grammy rather just music you can purchase separately in places like Amazon or iTunes.
It only seems appropriate to include this music for Grammy consideration since streaming services are almost the main way people listen to new music nowadays. Albums like Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo will never see the light of day on a music store shelf because of exclusivity rights to streaming services. But hey, wouldn’t it be a little unfair to not include Kanye in the rap category of the Grammys just because his album can’t be purchased physically? And that’s what The Recording Academy asked themselves when they decided that it was time to start including streaming-exclusive tracks and albums.
“The GRAMMYs® aren’t just peer-awarded, they’re peer-driven. Throughout the year, members of the music community come to us asking to make changes to the Awards process, and we work with them to figure out how those changes might work,” said Bill Freimuth, Senior Vice President of Awards for The Recording Academy. “I’m proud of this year’s changes because they’re a testament to the artists, producers, and writers – the people who rolled up their sleeves to shape the proposals and, in turn, the future of the GRAMMYs. It’s exactly what they should be doing. It’s their award.”
This change will take full effect immediately, while music exclusively released to streaming services between October 1st, 2015 to September 30th, 2016 will all be considered for an award at the 59th Grammy Awards next year on February 12.
Times are constantly changing, so it just makes sense for The Recording Academy to start counting streaming-exclusive music. But do you agree? Let us know in the comments what your thoughts are!
Source: The Recording Academy via The Verge
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