The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Awards, which recognize achievements in the music industry of songs and music which are popular worldwide. The Recording Academy is a founding partner of the Grammy Museum, a non-profit organization whose stated mission is preserving and educating about music history and significance. The Recording Academy also founded

MusiCares MusiCares Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1989 and incorporated in 1993 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Meant for musicians to have a place to turn in times of financial, personal, or medical crisis, ...

, a charity that states it serves to impact the health and welfare of the music community. The Recording Academy’s Advocacy team lobbies for music creators’ rights at the local, state, and federal levels.

History

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

The origin of the academy dates back to the beginning of the 1950s Hollywood Walk of Fame project. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce asked the help of major recording industry executives in compiling a list of people in the music business who should be honored by Walk of Fame stars. The music committee, made up of these executives, compiled a list, but as they worked, they realized there were many more talented industry people who would not qualify to be recognized with a Hollywood Boulevard bronze star. The founding committee members included Jesse Kaye, MGM Records;

Lloyd Dunn Lloyd John Dunn (born November 10, 1957 in Harlan, Iowa, USA) is a founding member of the mixed-media and experimental sound art group the Tape-beatles and founder, publisher and editor of several small-press magazines, such as ''PhotoStatic' ...

and Richard Jones, Capitol Records;

Sonny Burke Joseph Francis "Sonny" Burke (March 22, 1914 – May 31, 1980) was an American musical arranger, composer, Big Band leader and producer. In 1937, he graduated from Duke University, where he had formed and led the jazz big band known as the Duke ...

and

Milt Gabler Milton Gabler (May 20, 1911 – July 20, 2001) was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century. These included being the first person to deal in record reissues, the first to sel ...

, Decca Records;

Dennis Farnon Dennis Farnon (13 August 1923 – 21 May 2019) was a Canadian musical arranger, composer and orchestra conductor. Dennis Farnon was born in 1923 in Toronto, Canada as John Denis Farnon to Robert and Elsie Farnon (née Menzies). He grew up in a m ...

, RCA Records; and

Axel Stordahl Axel Stordahl (August 8, 1913 – August 30, 1963) was an American arranger who was active from the late 1930s through the 1950s. He is perhaps best known for his work with Frank Sinatra in the 1940s at Columbia Records. With his sophisticat ...

Paul Weston Paul Weston (born Paul Wetstein; March 12, 1912 – September 20, 1996) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor who worked in music and television from the 1930s to the 1970s, pioneering mood music and becoming known as "the ...

, and Doris Day from Columbia Records. This was the start of the academy and also of the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

s. The Recording Academy was formally established in 1957. The

1st Annual Grammy Awards The 1st Annual Grammy Awards were held on May 4, 1959. They recognized musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1959. Two separate ceremonies were held simultaneously on the same day; the first hotel in Beverly Hills, California, and the ...

was held simultaneously in two locations on May 4, 1959 - Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills California, and Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City, and 28 Grammys were awarded. The number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, but the ceremony was not aired live until the

13th Annual Grammy Awards The 13th Annual Grammy Awards were held on 16 March 1971, on ABC, and marked the ceremony's first live telecast. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1970. The ceremony was hosted for the first time by Andy Williams. Award ...

in 1971. In 1997, the Recording Academy under Michael Greene launched ''

The Latin Recording Academy pt, Academia Latina da Gravação , image = Latin_grammy_logo_(2022).png , image_border = , size = 150px , caption = , map = , msize = , mcaption = , motto = , formation = , extinction ...

'', which produces the

Latin Grammy Awards The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been ...

Neil Portnow Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. A ...

later served as president and CEO of the academy from 2002 to 2019.

Deborah Dugan Deborah Dugan is an American executive who was the first female president and CEO of the Recording Academy, which presents the Grammy Awards, in 2019 and 2020. She served as the president of Disney Publishing Worldwide from 2002 to 2006, havin ...

was his replacement, taking over on August 1, 2019. and is the first woman to lead the organization. Dugan was removed from her position on January 16, 2020 after organizational claims of misconduct against her assistant, though she claimed she was ousted while experiencing conflicts in trying to reform the organization and other matters were revealed to her, including a sexual assault claim from an artist against Portnow. Harvey Mason Jr. held interim president/CEO duties for the organization from 2020 to 2021. He was named CEO in June 2021. Since Mason’s tenure, the Recording Academy has established the following initiatives: * In March 2020 MusiCares established the COVID-19 Relief Fund. According to MusiCares, the fund was created to help struggling music creators through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. * In May 2020, the organization hired its first-ever Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officer, Valeisha Butterfield Jones. * In June 2020, the GRAMMYs revised rules and processes ahead of the 63rd GRAMMY Awards. Changes include the removal of the term “urban,” renaming Best Urban Contemporary Album to Best Progressive R&B Album, renaming Best Rap/Sung Performance to Best Melodic Rap Performance and within the Latin music field, Latin Pop Album was renamed Best Latin Pop Or Urban Album and Latin Rock, Urban Or Alternative Album was renamed to Best Latin Rock Or Alternative Album. * In July 2020, the Academy joined Representatives Linda T. Sánchez (D-Calif.) and Representative Ron Estes (R-Kansas) to introduce the Help Independent Tracks Succeed (HITS) Act. According to the bipartisan bill, it allows independent music makers to expense the cost of new studio recordings on their taxes. * In March 2021, it established the Songwriters & Composers Wing, a new wing made to recognize “all genres of songwriters and amplify their role in policy discussions that seek fair compensation for creators.” * In April 2021, the GRAMMYs eliminated the nominations review committee to provide more transparency in its voting process. * In November 2021, ahead of the 64th GRAMMY nominations, the Recording Academy expanded the number of nominees in the General Field categories from eight to ten. According to the organization, the expansion would bring in more genres and make the nominations more representative of the industry. In June 2021, The Recording Academy named Valeisha Butterfield Jones and Panos A. Panay as Co-Presidents, the first time the Academy has had multiple leaders in its history.

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awards presented by The Recording Academy to recognize achievements in the music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of those awards that have a more popular interest. The Grammys are one of three major music awards held annually, the other two being the

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Pro ...

and the ''Billboard'' Music Awards.

Organization

Producers and Engineers Wing

According to The Recording Academy, The Producers and Engineers Wing (P&E Wing) is a part of the academy made up of producers, engineers, mixers, and other technically involved professionals. The producers and engineers wing addresses various aspects of issues facing the recording profession. The P&E Wing also advocates for the use of professional usage of recording technology as well as the preservation of recordings. The members of this division make up a large portion of those who vote on the Grammy Awards each year.

Grammy University Network

According to The Recording Academy, The Grammy University Network (Grammy U) is an organization for college students who are pursuing a career in the music industry. It offers forms of networking, interactive educational experiences and programs, advice from music professionals, and internship opportunities.

MusiCares

The Recording Academy supports the MusiCares Foundation, a philanthropic organization which provides money and services to musicians in an emergency or crisis.

Chapters

The academy has twelve chapters in various locations throughout the United States. The twelve chapters are in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

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Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, Nashville,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, and

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Tammy Susan Hurt is the first

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

Chapter President to have served on the board of the Atlanta Chapter since 2005. The Washington branch organized the 2018 event ''Grammys on the Hill'' to coordinate passage of the Music Modernization Act in Congress.

References

External links

The Recording Academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Recording Academy Music organizations based in the United States Companies based in Santa Monica, California Organizations established in 1957 Grammy Awards Musical advocacy groups 1957 establishments in California