LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — The Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards announced a round of updates ahead of the 2025 edition of the annual award shows, including changes to eligibility requirements and categories.
Major updates include eligibility criteria, category renaming, and the introduction of new guidelines for categories including Songwriter Of The Year, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, and Best Dance/Electronic Music Album among others.
All of the changes were approved by vote at the Recording Academy’s semiannual Board of Trustees meeting in May and will be in place for the next year’s Grammy Awards, which are scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on February 2nd, 2025.
Eligibility, Criteria & Submission Guidelines Amendments:
- All eligibly-credited Featured Artists with under 50% playtime will now be awarded a Winners’ Certificate for all genre album Categories. (Note: Does not apply to Best Musical Theater Album, the General Field or Craft Categories).
- In the Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical Category, the following submission guidelines were amended, allowing for wider representation of the songwriter community:
- The minimum submission threshold in which a songwriter is credited as a songwriter or co-writer (not a primary or featured artist, or producer), was reduced from five to four songs.
- The additional number of songs a songwriter may enter in which they are also credited as a primary or featured artist, or any other supporting role, increased from four to five.
- The Best Traditional R&B Performance Category criteria was amended to more accurately represent recordings that embody the classic elements of R&B/Soul music, distinguishing them from contemporary interpretations of the genre.
- The Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Category criteria was amended to expand the Category by broadening its scope and welcoming more entries from the Musical Theater community. Additionally, album eligibility criteria was updated to require that albums in this Category must contain more than 75% of newly recorded (previously unreleased) performances.
- The Best Children’s Music Album Category criteria was amended to include a requirement that lyrics and English language translations must be included with entry submissions. Additionally, an intended audience age range for this Category was defined as infant to 12 years old.
Grammy Award Category Adjustments:
- The Best Remixed Recording Category has moved from the Production, Engineering, Composition & Arrangement Field into the Pop & Dance/Electronic Field.
- The Category formerly known as Best Pop Dance Recording has been renamed Best Dance Pop Recording.
- The Best Dance/Electronic Music Album Category was renamed to Best Dance/Electronic Album and the Category criteria was amended to establish that albums must be made up of at least 50% Dance/Electronic recordings to qualify.
- Conjunto music will now be recognized in the Best Regional Roots Music Album Category, rather than the Best Música Mexicana Album (Including Tejano) Category.
- The Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media Category was amended to include a qualification for released material, specifically new DLC (downloaded content in-game) and Seasonal Expansions. The updated qualification establishes that greater than 50% of the music on an otherwise eligible Video Game Soundtrack or Interactive Media Soundtrack must be derived from new episodes or new programming released during the GRAMMY eligibility year for which it is entered.
