GRAMMY Official AWARDS Rules & GUIDELINES
THESE ARE THE OFFICIAL RULES FOR THE GRAMMY AWARDS.
All GRAMMY Awards ballots are cast by Recording Academy Voting Members and are subject to classification and qualifications under rules or regulations approved by the Board of Trustees. From time to time, the Board may vote to amend the qualification criteria for consideration for a GRAMMY Award or other award.
64TH GRAMMY AWARDS RULES & GUIDELINES
Follow the link to view the complete rules and guidelines for the 64th GRAMMY Awards.
The Board of Trustees ratifies all changes to the GRAMMY process each spring. The following chart shows the rule changes for the current year. For a detailed review of the changes please check out the Lastest Awards Updates here.
| Field | Category | 63rd GRAMMY Rule | 64th GRAMMY Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| GENERAL and GENRE FIELD (last updated 11.25.2021) | |||
| General | Album Of The Year | Award credited artists, features artists, songwriters, producers, mixers, engineers with 33% playing time of the album | Removed: 33% playing time rule Note: 33% playing time rule remains for nominee ticket allocations and events |
| General | Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best New Artist | Number of nominations is eight | Number of nominations is ten |
| Global Music | No category for awarding performance tracks or singles | New Category Name: Best Global Music Performance | |
| Global Music | Global Music Album | Redefine definition | |
| Latin | Latin Urban merged with Latin Pop category | New Category: Best Música Urbana Album | |
| Classical | Orchestral Performance Choral Performance Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance Classical Instrumental Solo Contemporary Classical Composition | Albums and tracks allowed to be entered in several categories in the Classical Field | Added: Allow Singles (that are not part of an album) to be entered for all Classical categories that accept tracks in the Classical Field. |
| Dance/Electronic | Dance Recording | Dance Recording category allowed dance recordings | Retitled: Dance/Electronic Recording Redefined: Dance/Electronic recordings eligible |
| American Roots Music | Regional Roots | Update definition: Include Go-go and Swamp Pop | |
| Package Notes Historical Production, Non-Classical Production, Immersive Audio Field Production, Classical | All categories under these fields | Seven Craft Fields | Realignment of six Craft Fields: Package, Notes & Historical Field Production Field |
| Music Video/Film | Music Film | This category includes music-related documentaries with a preponderance of performance-based material and individual music videos that together create a visual album (if videos are packaged and entered together as one cohesive film) | Amend eligibility verbiage by removing the word “preponderance” and returning to 51% performance material for eligible entries |
| Music For Visual Media | Compilation For Visual Media | Award to artists or album producers, engineer/mixer(s) on a majority of tracks on the album | Limits the amount of participants that can be awarded in the category |
| Music For Visual Media | All categories under this field | Tracks from an album released during a previous year’s eligibility period are not eligible in the category | Amended Rule: Expand eligibility rule to accommodate the asynchronous releases between music and Visual Media |
| 63rd GRAMMY Rule | 64th GRAMMY Rule | |
|---|---|---|
| NOMINATIONS REVIEW COMMITTEE | ||
| Nominations Review | Nominations Review Committee Meetings | Nominations Review Committee Meetings are discontinued |
| 63rd GRAMMY Rule | 64th GRAMMY Rule | |
|---|---|---|
| ADDITIONAL CHANGES (last updated 10.02.2021) | ||
| Voting Method | All Voting Members are encouraged to vote on the four categories of the General Field. Additionally, voters may vote in up to 15 other categories - based on individual areas of expertise - on both ballots. | All Voting Members are encouraged to vote in the four categories of the General Field. Additionally, voters may vote in up to ten other categories - based on areas in which the voter is actively engaged as a peer - on both ballots. The ten additional categories must be within no more than three fields (thus, the name for this voting change: 10/3). |
| Technical GRAMMY Award | Revised definition: Addition of “or contributions” to allow for an optional 2nd award reserved for a company, organization or institution | |
| GRAMMY Entitlement Award | One year deadline from the date of the telecast to make requests for crediting changes/additions to nominated or winning albums | Revised Practice: Remove one year requirement |
| GRAMMY Hall of Fame | Honors recordings issued prior to the 1958 inception of the GRAMMY Awards and beyond | Instituted a one year hiatus to revamp the process in partnership with the GRAMMY Museum |
| Vote Trade | Restrict FYC Communication to members and publicist promotion only their own recordings | |
| Streaming Requirements | Eligible streaming links or product are required for entries | Streaming links required for all GRAMMY category entries except a few in Craft |
| Album Eligibility | An album must contain greater than 50% playing time of newly recorded music | An album must contain greater than 75% playing time of newly recorded music (implemented for the 65th GRAMMY Awards) |