The Recording Academy, the institution behind the prestigious Grammy Awards, has recently unveiled a set of updated rules for the 66th annual ceremony. These rules address the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in music creation and aim to establish clear guidelines for eligibility. While the entertainment industry at large continues to engage in debates regarding the influence and impact of AI, the Recording Academy is taking proactive steps to regulate its presence in the realm of music.
"Only human creators are eligible to be submitted for consideration for, nominated for, or win a GRAMMY Award. A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any Category," the Academy says.
The Academy's newly released guidelines make it unequivocally clear that only human creators are eligible for consideration, nomination, and winning of a Grammy Award. The organisation states that any work devoid of human authorship cannot be deemed eligible in any category. However, the presence of AI components in a musical work does not automatically disqualify it from consideration.
The rules further specify that the human element in the submitted work must be meaningful and more than negligible. The human authorship must be relevant to the category in which the work is entered. For example, if a work is submitted in a songwriting category, there must be a substantial human contribution in terms of the music and/or lyrics. Similarly, if the work is submitted in a performance category, there must be significant human involvement in the performance.
Furthermore, the authors of any AI material incorporated into the work are ineligible for nomination or to receive a Grammy Award, specifically in relation to their contribution to the AI portion of the work. The Academy defines "de minimis" as lacking significance or importance, so minor as to be disregarded.
In addition to addressing the role of AI, the Recording Academy has made changes to the number of nominees in the top categories. The total number of nominees in Album, Song, and Record of the Year, as well as Best New Artist, has been reduced from ten to eight.
The rules governing the Album of the Year category have also undergone revision. To be eligible for nomination in this category, a music creator must now be involved in at least 20 per cent of the album. Previously, anyone contributing to the album, be it a producer, songwriter, engineer, or featured artist, would be included in the nomination, regardless of their level of involvement.
This change in the Album of the Year category marks a reversal of the 2021 rule that allowed any producer or songwriter to be nominated.
Among the other modifications are the reduction of genre fields that members can vote in, from 26 to 11, and the removal of the requirement that nominees in the Best Music Film category must contain at least 51 per cent performance-based material.
Furthermore, the Recording Academy has renamed certain categories and announced three new categories: Best African Music Performance, Best Pop Dance Recording, and Best Alternative Jazz Album.
The eligibility period for the 66th annual Grammy Awards spans from October 1, 2022, to September 15, 2023. The awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in winter 2024, with nominations set to be announced in November.
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