The Grammys, the award show all about music and music artists, is one of the biggest award shows of all time. They have averaged 13.7 million viewers over the past five years. However, they have a problem: they constantly overlook alternative music artists who might not be as well-known as pop or country stars. They base who wins and where their votes go on popularity, rather than overall talent or the quality of the music.
The voting seems focused on pleasing famous and rich people who are in the awards or fund them, and negates the fact that the Grammys were first introduced to celebrate good music regardless of who you are, just about the music.If bands like Queen never won a Grammy, and artists like the Smiths, or the Pixies weren’t even nominated, you know there is a problem because they have made some of the best and influential music of all time, and even if you don’t like their genre of music you have to admit they are some of the greatest to ever do it.
Even bigger artists like the Weekend, Drake, and even Halsey have come out with comments, Drake saying, “….. accept that what was once the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after”. and Halsey saying that the Grammy voting process was “elusive” and no longer about “the music or quality or culture”. Adding to what Halsey said about it being elusive, she is 100 percent correct. The people who vote are usually benefiting if a certain person wins, which causes a conflict of interest, and voters usually only know about one singular genre, but they are still voting in the other genres, leading to poorly informed decisions.
The Grammys are starting to lose recognition because more and more people are continuing to see that it continues to be more about sales and not really the art of music, even tho that’s what they pretend it’s about. This continues to affect alternative artists and just artists in general; it discourages innovation as labels keep pushing for music that will win awards and is Grammy safe instead of original sounds. Alternative and independent musicians may not bother even submitting for the Grammys, knowing the odds are stacked against them, reducing diversity of voices in the awards, all just killing original and creative music and thinking, which is what the awards are supposed to be all about.
The Grammys need to change before they continue to lose more and more support. They have to go back to their roots and realize it’s about the music and not about the money, or people will continue to stop watching them, like ERHS student America Chavez who said, “It kinda feels like the Grammys care more about whats blowing up online and what can make them money than whose actually makin good music, a lot of artist im into never even get mentioned, so it just seems fake to me”. If the Grammys want to stay relevant, they have to start recognizing real talent and not just what is popular and trending.
