The 2025 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 67th GRAMMY Awards, will air live on CBS and Paramount+ on Sunday, Feb. 2. Watch highlights from the 2025 GRAMMYs on live.GRAMMY.com.
The 2025 GRAMMYs telecast will be reimagined to raise funds to support wildfire relief efforts and aid music professionals impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles. Donate to the Recording Academy's and MusiCares' Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort To Support Music Professionals.
The Recording Academy is going through a transformative evolution.
Last week, the Recording Academy released its 2024 Membership Report, which revealed that the organization has added more than 3,000 women Voting Members since 2019. With this history-making milestone, the Academy exceeded its goal of adding 2,500 women Voting Members by 2025. In addition, the 2024 Membership Report also showed remarkable growth in representation of Voting Members from diverse backgrounds, including a 65% increase in the percentage of Voting Members who identify as people of color and a 27% increase in the percentage of women Voting Members since 2019.These significant changes are rooted in the Recording Academy's new membership model, which it advanced in 2019.
And like all major developments within the Recording Academy, its CEO Harvey Mason jr. credits this progress to the organization's membership body, which he calls the heart of the Academy.
"All this progress we're seeing is a direct result of the new membership model, and the results of everything the Academy does is based on our membership," he told GRAMMY.com in an exclusive interview. "Everything you're seeing can be traced back to the Academy's diversity efforts, our growth efforts, and the direct involvement of our membership."
@grammys The RecordingAcademy’s voting membership is evolving, and we’re thrilled about it. ✨ 📈 Over the past few years, we’ve seen a significant increase in diversity among our voting electorate. From welcoming thousands of new women voters to expanding representation among People of Color—including the Black or African American+, Hispanic or Latin+, Asian or Pacific Islander+ communities, and beyond—we’re making big strides. 🎵 The face of our voting body has changed dramatically since 2019, bringing fresh perspectives to the table. The Recording Academy remains committed to ensuring diverse voices shape the future of music.
To celebrate the Recording Academy's newly announced membership achievements, Mason jr. spoke to GRAMMY.com about the importance of diversity within the Academy and the GRAMMY Awards process, the impact of GRAMMY voting, and the Academy's road to its "ultimate destination."
Learn more about the Recording Academy's membership process and requirements.
Learn more about our My Academy Hub mobile app, which allows Recording Academy Voting Members to vote directly from their phones.
For more information about the 2025 GRAMMY Awards season, learn more about the annual GRAMMY Awards process; read our First Round Voting guide for the 2025 GRAMMYs; read our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section; view the official GRAMMY Awards Rules and Guidelines; and visit the GRAMMY Award Update Center for a list of real-time changes to the GRAMMY Awards process.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
With this year's New Membership Class, the Recording Academy added more than 3,000 women Voting Members since 2019, exceeding its goal of adding 2,500 women Voting Members by 2025. What do you envision this evolution will mean for the Recording Academy and the music industry at large?
While these milestones are strong achievements, and something we're very proud of, it does not mean that we're done with our work. The same goes for the other goals we've reached. Some of the other goals we've achieved — for example, we're seeing significant growth in representation of Voting Members from diverse backgrounds — they all reflect the same message: We've done some good work and we are definitely more diverse and more reflective of our industry, but we still have more work to do.
The Recording Academy implemented its new membership model in 2019, which introduced a transformative shift in the voting body. How has this new membership model impacted the Recording Academy membership and its voting body?
All this progress we're seeing is a direct result of the new membership model, and the results of everything the Academy does is based on our membership. Our membership determines our elected leadership, our Trustees, our Governors. Our membership drives our annual GRAMMY Awards process, including proposals for changes like new GRAMMY Categories. Our voting membership comprises the people who vote for our GRAMMY nominees and GRAMMY winners every year. Everything you're seeing can be traced back to the Academy's diversity efforts, our growth efforts, and the direct involvement of our membership. As well, the collaboration between our Board of Trustees and our Membership Committee has also been an important component of the change we are seeing.
In addition to this women voter milestone, the Recording Academy is also celebrating a growing representation of voting members from diverse backgrounds. The Academy is seeing a 65% growth in the percentage of voting members who identify as people of color. Why was this an important goal for the Recording Academy?
It's very important to me on a personal level, as a Black man and as the CEO of this organization, but also as a music creator and a member of the Academy for a long time. As CEO and an active member of the Recording Academy, I've seen the value of the Academy firsthand, and I want us to be equitable across the industry.
For us at the Academy, we want to continue to become more diverse and more representative of our industry than we are today. Having different voices at the table, reflecting true diversity across the board, making sure that there's representation from all different music genres, all different communities, all different regions, all different ages — this will determine how important decisions are made, from genre categorization to GRAMMY voting. And on a deeper level, this also concerns how we serve our members, our education and advocacy efforts, the communities we support, who we help through MusiCares, and beyond.
Everything the Academy does gets better and stronger with the more diverse voices we have discussing, thinking, brainstorming, and deciding on our efforts and initiatives.
@grammys 🎶 The GRAMMY Award is the only music award in which nominees and winners are determined solely by music creators themselves. 🗳️ Every vote can shape #GRAMMYs history, energize all music communities and inspire future creators. 📣 First Round Voting for the 67 GRAMMY Awards is open now through October 15th. #SoundChoices
First Round Voting for the 2025 GRAMMYs just opened this month. What is the connection between Recording Academy Voting Members and the GRAMMY Awards voting process?
The Academy's GRAMMY voting body is entirely responsible for the GRAMMY nominations and the final GRAMMY winners every year. Without having a representative voting body, our outcomes would not be reflective of what's happening in contemporary music, in my opinion.
One of the most important things we can do as an Academy is to make sure that our membership is diverse — made up of leading music creators from across all the genres, all the genders, different ethnicities, different perspectives, different viewpoints, global geographic representation. We need a truly representative Voting Membership to make the right decisions, the right outcomes for our GRAMMY Awards and for all the other components of our Academy.
Speaking of the newly inducted members, what message do you have for new GRAMMY Voting Members as they head to the polls to cast their GRAMMY votes for the first time ever?
First, I would say welcome and congratulations. It's amazing to have you all as new members. We need you, we appreciate you. But I'd also recommend they set aside a block of time to do the work that it takes to vote accurately and responsibly. Voting is not meant to be quick and easy. It's not meant to just be done in your spare time as you're watching a movie. I would ask that our Voting Members really understand the music they're voting for and vote with real intention and purpose. More importantly, enjoy your first GRAMMY season!
With all these new members from diverse backgrounds joining the Academy, do you expect to see a difference in the voting results for the upcoming 2025 GRAMMYs and beyond?
With this GRAMMY voting body being more representative than it ever has been before, the outcomes will reflect the broad opinions or will of our music community here in the United States. That doesn't mean that there won't be disagreements with the outcomes. People will be surprised and disappointed, but it won't be because our voting body is wildly inconsistent with the music community. There are different opinions on what is considered "excellent" in music based on merit. The ultimate outcomes will reflect this broadly diverse music community and its musical taste, and that's how the outcomes should be interpreted.
We're asking our GRAMMY voters to vote on the best and most creative music or performance or composition or other Categories throughout the year. We're not asking them to vote on their favorite genres or to vote for the most popular song or artist. We're asking them to truly evaluate the music based on merit. My hope with our growing voting body is that they'll continue to vote thoughtfully and with intention and that, ultimately, the outcomes will reflect today's music industry.
The Recording Academy just achieved one of its biggest membership goals ever this year. What's next?
My first goal is to get us through this year's GRAMMY season. [Laughs.] And then after that, we'll take a look at how we can continue to improve and continue to level up everything we're doing at the Academy. For me, I operate from a place of goals. Our Academy is now operating from a place of annual objectives. So we'll spend some time evaluating where we stand, and we'll always continue to strive for the best in everything that we're doing at the Academy, including our membership and our GRAMMY Awards process.
You recently said the Recording Academy is "not at our ultimate destination." In your eyes, what is the Academy's ultimate destination?
The "ultimate destination" will never be accomplished, and that's a positive. The Recording Academy is always going to evolve, and our mission will always remain fluid. We will continue chasing the "ultimate destination" in an active and aggressive and forward-looking way. If we set goals based on the past or even remain too focused on the present, we'll always be chasing our tails. But my hope is that we can think ahead and continue to set goals that are reachable while also guiding us in progressive directions and leading what's happening in our music community.