LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — After years of criticism over the lack of diversity, including women, artists of color, and members of the LGTBQ+ community, the Recording Academy has released its 2024 Membership Report, revealing new details on the modernization initiatives to make the academy more reflective of the broader music industry.
In 2019, the Academy announced plans to add 2,500 women to its voting body by 2025 and on Thursday, it announced that those plans had born fruit after more than 3,000 women have been added to the Academy’s voting roles.
The push to increase diversity has also led to a 65% growth in the percentage of Voting Members who identify as people of color, 90% growth in the percentage of Black or African American+ Voting Members, 43% more Hispanic or Latin+ Voting Members, and 100% growth for Asian or Pacific Islander voting members.
The Recording Academy has also opened its doors to include more creators among its ranks, and about 8,700 creators have become Recording Academy Voting Members since 2019.
“We are not at our ultimate destination yet, but the Recording Academy membership has never been more reflective of the music community than it is today,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said. “It has more women, more people of color, and a broad representation of diverse genres and crafts. It represents a dynamic and vibrant body of music creators who push the boundaries of a rapidly changing musical ecosystem while driving our culture forward and deciding GRAMMY outcomes. It’s the most diverse, representative GRAMMY electorate ever.”
The Recording Academy’s update on its diversity initiatives comes just one day before the first round of voting opens for the 2025 Grammy Awards.
. Voting Members, including those welcomed in the 2024 New Member Class, are eligible to participate in the Grammy voting process. Nominations for the 2025 Grammys will be announced Friday, Nov. 8, 2024.
