In the wake of Nigerians feeling slighted, an old clip capturing American record producer and head of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr., discussing the criteria used by the Academy to choose its award winners, has resurfaced online.
Davido’s loss at the 66th Grammy Awards, despite bagging three nominations, has remained a heated topic among his fans.
A trending video showed some of Davido’s 30BG fans reporting the Recording Academy’s social media account to prove their displeasure.
Amid the online uproar, the CEO of the Grammy Awards, revealed in a resurfaced video, that sales and chart-topping achievements aren’t part of the criteria for securing the coveted music recognition award.
Harvey pointed out that even having a vast global fanbase and selling millions of records doesn’t ensure winning the prestigious accolade.
According to him, residing in the United States of America and being a member of the GRAMMY Academy are essential to winning an award.
He highlighted that it’s fellow artists who are members of the Recording Academy that vote for their colleagues after nominations are submitted.
His words;
“First you have to understand, that the only way to win a Grammy is to have the Membership of the Academy vote for you,”
“In order to be a member of the Academy you have to be a music professional working in the United States, for now. For now, it’s only in the United States of America, hopefully, we grow then. Right now, if you are a working professional in the USA you can become a member of the Recording Academy
“Once you are a member of the Academy, all the music is submitted the members listen to it and they evaluate it based on the quality of the art not the sales, not the streams not on the followers or how many fans… it is purely on the art.
“It’s purely on the opinion and as you all know it is very hard because it is subjective. There is no best song, best record it is just the opinion of the Membership in that particular year. That is how you win a Grammy and that is it.
“The voters vote, there is no committee, there is no journalist, no labels just music professionals voting for their peers, period,”
WATCH HIM SPEAK BELOW