Grammy Awards Scrap Paper Ballots And Switch To Online Voting, Recording Academy Hopes To Increase Voters

The Grammy Awards is set to experience a major change in their voting system as the Recording Academy announced their plan to replace paper ballots with online voting.

In a recent report by the LA Times, it has been revealed that the Recording Academy is keen on improving the voting system of the Grammy Awards, which has been using the traditional paper ballots for years.

On Wednesday, Academy executives announced that the major reason why they decided to improve the voting system is to encourage more voters. The academy hopes that with a more flexible voting selection, it may help increase participation in the upcoming awards show, especially from the young members.

In an interview with Bill Freimuth, Academy’s Senior Vice President, he expressed that innovating the voting process has always been on their agenda list. He added that they are just waiting for the right moment to execute the plan.

“It’s been something we’ve been talking about for many years, and looking forward to the day when this has arrived.”

In the new voting process, voters will have the chance to play and listen to the songs included in the list of nominees. With that said, the Academy expects that they would be able to attract a wide range of participants because the voters can appreciate and criticize the songs, especially those that they want to cast their votes to. In addition, voters will be allowed to cast votes in up to 15 other fields.

It can be recalled that the award-giving body had faced criticisms regarding “cultural bias.” There were claims that the Grammy Awards were only given to artists who are more familiar or popular, rather than giving it to more diverse artists.

There were even reports that some artists have decided to boycott the award-giving body to express their opposition to the process of choosing the winners. R&B artist Frank Ocean reportedly decided not submit his album last year for a nomination, claiming that the Academy’s process is outdated. Apparently, Frank Ocean criticized the Grammys for awarding album of the year to Taylor Swift rather than Kendrick Lamar.

Criticisms also surfaced when Adele’s album, 25, won over Beyonce’s Lemonade last year. According to reports, fans are wondering why Beyonce’s album did not win despite the amount of positive feedback. During the awarding ceremony, even Adele bowed down to Beyonce and praised her album.

With the help of the new online voting system, the Academy has high hopes that it can address these issues and ensure that the awards, like the album of the year, will be given to artists who truly deserve it.

Freimuth also assured fans that Academy will take necessary measures to tabulate the results accurately. He also mentioned that they are keen on details to avoid issues, especially with security.

The 60th Grammy Awards is scheduled to take place on January 28, 2018, in New York City.

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