People that have paid attention to the Grammy award for best Reggae album over the past two decades have been very vocal about their displeasure with the nominees, and the winners. We actually caught up with David Hines of the legendary band Steel Pulse who were the first non-Jamaican act to win the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.
This year added more fuel to the fire for those who already had a problem with the Grammy awards for best Reggae Album. With the winners being a white band from America added more of a reason for people to voice their displeasure with this years results for best Reggae album.
Many Jamaicans rushed to social media to voice their anger with SOJA’s Grammy victory, with some stating that the Grammys made a mistake. Others see it as a slap in the face to Jamaicans and a betrayal of our music and culture, while others wonder how SOJA managed to win over Sean Paul, Spice, Jesse Royal, Gramps Morgan, and Etana in the first place.
With that said now let’s put the emotions aside and get the facts. I took some excerpts from Cristy Barber, the president of the Marley family’s Ghetto Youths International when she spoke about the Reggae Grammy situation.
One of the problems is that many reggae artists have been left out of consideration for a Grammy Award because they have not paid membership dues and because of a lack of promotion of these artists. The problem in this, people are uneducated about the Recording Academy process.
Another issue is the people who represent reggae music do not vote, and the solution is that people who represent the genre and who have the “creative credentials” to do that should actually register to vote.
For those who lack the knowledge and would like to create some solutions to these issues here is the reggae Grammy process:
1) Every genre has its own screening committee to ensure that each album is released within the calendar year in the US; nothing over five years old can be considered, and it has to be considered over 75 percent of that genre.
2) Then there is the first round of voting in which the ballot is sent to all members who have paid their membership dues, the Grammy voters. All the artists who make it through the screening committee, which comprises about 60 members, are considered on the first ballot. Each voter picks five from among those. The five to receive the most votes in the first round end up on the final ballot. This is the process for every genre.
3) The Recording Academy comprises industry voters, but not everyone can be an industry voter. To be an industry voter, a person has to have six creative credentials that the Academy believes makes that person an expert in the music industry. Creatives include producers, musicians, songwriters, sound engineers, video directors, video producers, the people who write the liner notes, the people who design the album packaging. Marketers, journalists, record label presidents are not considered creatives. Barber says there are about one billion people in reggae who are considered creatives.
4) To receive the creative credential, a person only has to work on six projects, fill out an application, turn in proof of their involvement in the projects, and pay a yearly membership fee of US$100. Other than the fee, the paperwork only has to completed once.
Hopefully this information will help stop the complaining and help others become more involved..
Below are a few reactions from twitter users concerning the Grammy award for best Reggae Album.
