#Grammys Announce Changes to Album of the Year and Introduce Rule on AI Recordings: “Only Human Creators Are Eligible”

The Grammys are changing requirements for its top award, album of the year, and also introducing a new rule on songs created using artificial intelligence: “Only human creators are eligible to be submitted for consideration.”

In the past, any producer, songwriter, engineer or featured artist on an album would earn a nomination for album of the year, even if the person co-wrote one song on a 10-track project. Now, the Recording Academy says the music creators must be part of at least 20 percent of an album to earn a nomination.

When the Academy announced that any songwriter or producer could earn a bid for the top award in 2021, some championed the decision because more people would be recognized by the awards show and could call themselves “Grammy-nominated.”

But others criticized the change because it also meant that nominees for album of the year would be overloaded — most contemporary pop, rap and R&B albums feature multiple collaborators. For instance, more than 65 people were nominated alongside Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige when those stars competed for album of the year in February. Bad Bunny shared his nomination with more than 50 creators, and more than 30 people were nominated with Lizzo and Coldplay.

That’s in contrast to some rock, country and jazz albums, where one producer might work on the entire project. When Harry Styles’ Harry House won album of the year, he shared the award with 11 people.

Other major award updates — which were passed at the Academy’s Board of Trustees meeting last month — include rules around music made with artificial intelligence. “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. 

Coincidentally, the Grammy news comes in the same week Paul McCartney said he used AI to produce a “final” Beatles song.

The Academy says music that features elements of AI will be eligible if it meets the following requirements: “The human authorship component of the work submitted must be meaningful and more than de minimis; such human authorship component must be relevant to the category in which such work is entered (e.g., if the work is submitted in a songwriting category, there must be meaningful and more than de minimis human authorship in respect of the music and/or lyrics; if the work is submitted in a performance category, there must be meaningful and more than de minimis human authorship in respect of the performance); and the author(s) of any AI material incorporated into the work are not eligible to be nominees or Grammy recipients insofar as their contribution to the portion of the work that consists of such AI material is concerned. De minimis is defined as lacking significance or importance; so minor as to merit disregard.”

Another change that will impact Hollywood at the Grammys: More music documentaries and movies will get a chance to compete for best music film since the Academy has removed its previous requirement that a music film needs at least 51 percent of performance-based material. Some important music-based projects have missed out because of the previous rule, including Netflix’s jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy.

“While dramatic feature films and biopics are not eligible, films with fictional elements are eligible,” the Academy explains.

The Grammys also announced that its big four awards — album, song and record of the year, along with best new artist — will be reduced to eight nominees instead of 10.

The show is also consolidating the number of “fields” from 26 to 11. Grammy voters have to pick which fields they will vote in, and the change will give voters more flexibility when casting their votes.

Some small changes include: best improvised jazz solo has been renamed and redefined to best jazz performance and best regional Mexican music album (including Tejano) has been renamed best música Mexicana album (including Tejano). 

Earlier this week the Academy announced the addition of three new categories: best African music performance, best pop dance recording and best alternative jazz album.

Songs and albums released between Oct. 1, 2022 – Sept. 15, 2023, will be eligible for nominations at the 2024 show. The nominees will be announced in November.