The Recording Academy on Tuesday said that it would be increasing the number of nominations in its top categories from five to eight. The nominations have been increased in categories like Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. Apart from reflecting large number of entries, it has also been increased because of the uproar over the low number of female nominees and winners at the awards this year.
According to several reports, the announcement was made by the Academy after they realised that the variety of nominees were not reflected in the votes as they were mostly split between Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar. While the nominations and winners in music were racially diverse, the Sony/ATV Music Publishing chairman Martin Bandier said that narrowing all music to five categories is not inclusive enough.
Interestingly, one of the other changes to be implemented for Grammy Awards 2019 will be that music supervisors will be considered nominees in the Best Compilation Soundtrack Album category. The supervisors will be included as album producers only if they have produced at least 51 per cent of the album. The Academy has also said that the nominations for the World Music Field will now be determined through its own Nominations Review Committee.