The Grammys reach out to Latin voting members

NEW YORK (AP):

In the last few years, the Grammy Awards have made a concerted effort to diversify its electorate.

In 2024, the Recording Academy revealed significant changes to its evolving voting body, saying 66 per cent of voters joined in the previous five years, a number of whom were women and people of colour. This year, there's even more movement. For the first time ever, all Latin Grammy voting members were invited to join the Recording Academy as part of its 2025 new member class.

The Latin Grammys are a licensee of the Grammys and follow a similar voting process. But while the Grammys focus on the US market, the Latin Grammys have global considerations, according to Latin Recording Academy CEO Manuel Abud. The Recording Academy also has a number of members on the Latin Grammys board.

The results are notable: There are 3,800 new Recording Academy members in 2025. Half are 39 and under, 58 per cent are people of colour, and 35 per cent identify as women. And in that group, there are approximately 2,900 new Grammy voting members. Nearly half, 49 per cent, are 39 and under; 60 per cent are people of colour, and 30 per cent identify as women.

Over the last few years, Latin music has been skyrocketing in popularity, routinely celebrated as one of the fastest growing streaming genres in the United States.

"The addition of many Latin Recording Academy voting members underscores that music has no borders and that our mission to serve music people, regardless of where they are from, is stronger than ever," Harvey Mason jr., academy president and CEO, wrote in a statement. "I can't wait for our members' passion and hard work to shine through in this year's nominations."

Reform at the Record Academy dates back to the creation of a task force focused on inclusion and diversity after a previous CEO, Neil Portnow, made comments belittling women at the height of the #MeToo movement. In the past, the Grammys have been criticised over a lack of diversity, for example artistes of colour and women being left out of top prizes, and rap and contemporary R&B stars being ignored.

In 2024, Mason told The Associated Press that the Recording Academy sought to increase its voting body by reaching out to different, underrepresented communities.

"Let's take the time to understand why those people aren't engaging with us, figure out how we can fix that," he said. "And once we fixed it, then let's invite them or ask them if they would like to be a part of our organisation. So, it was a multi-step process."