Neil Portnow photographed in 2014

Neil Portnow

Photo: Paul Morigi/WireImage.com

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Recording Academy Prepares For Future Leadership Transition

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After years of success as President/CEO, Neil Portnow will work with the Recording Academy Board to engage qualified leadership to take the organization into its seventh decade of operation
Tim McPhate
Recording Academy
May 31, 2018 - 2:56 pm

Since 2002, the Recording Academy has achieved a period of prosperity and unprecedented growth under the leadership of President/CEO Neil Portnow, positioning the organization as the world's leading society of music professionals.

Today, the Recording Academy has announced that Portnow will begin preparing for a leadership transition after choosing to not seek an extension on his current contract. Throughout the next year, Portnow will work with the Academy Board to develop an organizational succession and transition plan, while continuing his current work as active President/CEO of the Recording Academy and MusiCares, and Chair of the Board of the GRAMMY Museum.

"The evolution of industries, institutions and organizations is ultimately the key to their relevance, longevity, and success," said Portnow. "Having been a member of the Recording Academy for four decades, serving as an elected leader and our President/CEO, I have not only witnessed our evolution, but proudly contributed significantly to the Academy's growth and stature in the world.

"When I had the honor of being selected to lead this great organization in 2002, I vowed that on my watch, for the first time in our history, we would have a thoughtful, well-planned collegial transition. With a little more than a year remaining on my current contract, I've decided that this is an appropriate time to deliver on that promise. Accordingly, I'll be working with our Board to put the various elements in place that will ensure transparency, best practices, and the Academy's ability to find the very best, brightest, and qualified leadership to take us into our seventh decade of operation. I truly look forward to continuing my role leading the Academy in the year ahead, and to continuing the pursuit of excellence and the fine missions we embrace and deliver."

Under Portnow's leadership during his 16-year tenure, the Recording Academy achieved several key milestones, including:

  • Establishing advocacy as a hallmark of the Recording Academy's Washington, D.C., office, giving music creators a voice on Capitol Hill, and stressing the need to update dated federal music laws. Last month, after 15 years of advocacy work, and on the heels of the organization's GRAMMYs on the Hill Awards and Advocacy Day, the Music Modernization Act, which helps bring copyright laws and artist protection into the 21st century, was passed in the House of Representatives and introduced in the Senate.
     
  • As the Recording Academy's leading charity, MusiCares will have provided more than $5.9 million to 7,900 members of the music industry in this fiscal year alone — marking the largest number of clients served and dollars distributed in a single year in the charity's history.
     
  • The Academy opened the first GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles in 2008. The Museum has since expanded its presence domestically and internationally.
     
  • A landmark 10-year broadcast deal with CBS to keep the GRAMMY Awards telecast — one of television's major entertainment events, ranking as one of the highest-rated and most-watched specials — on CBS through 2026. 
     
  • The expansion of the Recording Academy's telecast portfolio, which more than tripled the organization's television footprint with a number of new specials, including GRAMMY Salutes to Elton John, the Bee Gees, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, and Whitney Houston, as well as the PBS "Great Performances" series honoring GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award and Special Merit Award recipients.
     
  • In 2017, the GRAMMY Music Education Coalition united more than 30 of the nation's most forward-thinking music education organizations with the goal of increasing the number of youth actively participating in creating, playing, and performing music in U.S. public schools.
     
  •  After 58 years of traditional balloting, the GRAMMY Awards successfully implemented an online voting platform.

Portnow is the longest serving President in the Recording Academy's 60-year history. His contract is set to expire in July 2019.

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Your New Membership Portal Is Here!

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Visit the new Recording Academy membership area now
Brian Haack
Recording Academy
Apr 24, 2018 - 3:31 pm

In the Recording Academy’s ongoing efforts to provide a better digital experience for members and supporters, we are streamlining various Academy websites used to access important information about what we do across the organization. This includes an all-new membership area, which replaces GRAMMYPro.com and provides members easier access to news and content across the Academy, Chapter information and updates, and membership account management.
 
Visit the new membership area by clicking this link: www.grammy.com/membership.
 
All GRAMMYPro.com links redirect to GRAMMY.com. Log in using the email associated with your Recording Academy account (the same one that you used to access GRAMMYPro.com). If you have forgotten your password, you can reset it here: https://www.grammy.com/user/password.
 
When you’re logged in, you can visit your Dashboard to:

  • Review and update your Contact Information
  • Review and update your Mailing Preferences
  • Change your profile photo
  • Explore events, member discounts, and content across the Recording Academy

If you experience any issues, please email membership@grammy.com or call the Membership Team at 310.392.3777.

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A Letter To Our Recording Academy Members And To Our Colleagues In The Music Industry

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Read a letter from the Academy's Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees
Tim McPhate
Recording Academy
Feb 15, 2018 - 12:16 pm

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees is attuned to the calls to action that have resonated ever since the 60th GRAMMY Awards. We recognize the impact of the unfortunate choice of words from our President/CEO, Neil Portnow, in a post-GRAMMY interview. In the many letters and statements that we and our Board have received from some of our most respected artists, as well as prominent female and male music business executives, the message is clear: Our Academy and our industry must do a better job honoring and demonstrating our commitment to cultural, gender and genre diversity, in all aspects of our work. 

The Recording Academy is a membership organization, first and foremost. Like all Academy members, our Trustees live and breathe music, and are embedded in the fabric of our industry. Our Board members - many of whom are women - include independent artists, songwriters, touring musicians, producers and engineers, visual and audio entrepreneurs, A&R executives, and music publishers.  Our Vice Chair and former Chair/Chair Emeritus are women, and our National Awards and Nominations, Membership, Advocacy, and Producers & Engineers Wing Steering committees are all chaired or co-chaired by women. We honor the Academy, and we expect nothing less in return than strict adherence to musical excellence, an inclusive and diverse philosophy, meaningful outreach and communication, a purity of purpose, and an eagerness to embrace change as our musical culture and society evolve

The Academy’s commitment to our community resonates far beyond the nominations, winners and performers on the GRAMMY Awards. MusiCares, the GRAMMY Museum Foundation, and our Advocacy presence in Washington, D.C., speak to how much we care about all the people in our music family, whether they are Academy members or not. Our 12 Chapters nurture new generations of professionals in recording and business, and mentor Governors on our local boards to ally themselves with the issues they are most passionate about. At the heart of what we do, there is mutual respect and the belief that each of us has something unique and valuable to offer. The more diverse we are as an Academy, the better equipped we are to champion our members and our community.

The GRAMMY Awards have always been a positive and negative flashpoint and will likely continue to be because of the ever-changing nature of our world. We are constantly striving to reflect genre, gender, and ethnic diversity in our categories and fields. We welcome proposals from our members to make changes, and we debate all worthy ideas at an annual meeting dedicated solely to this purpose. Likewise, we have worked hard to ensure that our eligibility requirements reflect changing distribution methods. The advent of online voting and the ability to offer audio streams of nominated titles has been designed to make the voting experience convenient, while not compromising security.

The Academy is a thriving, fluid environment. It has a powerful agenda to do good work intended to improve the lives of those who create music, and to ensure that we respectfully participate in a culture where creativity can flourish.  We look to our industry partners to provide opportunities for music creators to maintain their professional careers. We embrace the idea that with the help and support of dedicated artists and professionals, we will undertake a fresh, honest appraisal of the role of women in all aspects of our Academy and the industry at large, with the hope of inspiring positive change.

Our Board of Trustees is committed to creating a comprehensive task force that will take a deep look at these issues and make material recommendations on how we can all do better. We are pleased that our task force announcement has been well received, with many people offering to participate in work that will yield tangible results. As we continue to take the appropriate time needed to ensure that this action is well-conceived and properly developed, we ask you to remember what this is about: improving our community and creating opportunity for all.  If we achieve this goal, we will all look back at this moment as one that has helped reshape the fabric of our industry. 

Please be assured that the Executive Committee and our Board of Trustees holds all the Academy’s leadership to the highest standards. We respect and deeply appreciate the opinions of the artists and industry leaders who have spoken up since the GRAMMY Awards. We cherish the trust that you have in the Recording Academy, and pledge to honor this transformational moment of gender equality as we continue to recognize musical excellence, advocate for the well-being of music makers, and ensure that music remains an indelible part of our culture.

Respectfully,

The Executive Committee on behalf of the Board of Trustees
The Recording Academy

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Recording Academy Advances New Membership Model, Inviting This Year's Class

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Membership VP Laura Segura Mueller on how the Academy is "committing to fostering diversity and inclusion while encouraging the music industry to reexamine and reinvent their own long-standing practices"
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jun 4, 2019 - 12:52 pm

Over 1,300 highly-qualified music professionals from wide-ranging backgrounds, genres and disciplines woke up to good news this morning, as the Recording Academy begins extending membership invitations to its new class today. This monumental moment signifies a profound shift not only for the careers of the hand-picked music makers, but for the music industry in general. 

Last November, the Academy revolutionized its new member submission process for the first time in over 60 years, implementing a community-driven membership model.  Today, a new class of highly accomplished music professionals, recommended by their peers, receive an invitation to join the Recording Academy. We spoke with Laura Segura Mueller, Vice President of Membership & Industry Relations at the Recording Academy to gain some insight on this important step forward.

"The Recording Academy is honored to announce our inaugural membership class of 1340 qualified music creators and business professionals. The 2019 class is comprised of music creators and professionals from across the music industry and their talents and backgrounds span many genres, crafts, ethnicities, genders, ages, locations and professions. As a result of meaningful recent changes to our member recruitment process, the class is more representative of the diverse voices, modes of expression, and excellence within the music industry, as compared to the data reported in the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative studies released in 2018 and 2019."

The Annenberg studies revealed a very lopsided gender breakdown, reporting that across the Billboard chart data sources, women only account for 21.7 percent of artists, 12.3 percent of songwriters, and 2.1 percent of producers. These figures stunned much of the music industry and provide a stark backdrop for the Recording Academy's inaugural class. 

Looking at the numbers, 49 percent of the Recording Academy class are females, 41 percent are from traditionally underrepresented communities, and 51 percent are 39 and under. The Recording Academy's current membership is 26 percent females, 24 percent traditionally underrepresented communities and 29 percent are 39 and under. While the improvement is clear, the work is just beginning.

2019 MEMBER CLASS STATS

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"When you compare these figures to what was reported in the 2019 Annenberg study, it’s clear that our new member class shows a marked improvement," said Segura Mueller. "We are deeply committed continuing this positive trend for years to come."

"With such dire statistics industry-wide, we will face challenges with future new member classes if not enough women and people of color are being hired, mentored, and have access to opportunities to lead and excel. The industry-wide change we need will only be achieved when new voices are encouraged to rise through the ranks," she said, emphasizing the need for partnership with the industry as a whole. 

Last year marked the start of a series of turning points for both the Recording Academy and the music industry. As both began to take a closer look at itself, the picture of diversity and inclusion in today's music world snapped into focus, revealing a fundamental imbalance.

In response, the Recording Academy and committed industry leaders took action, organizing a Task Force chaired by Tina Tchen to examine and better understand the barriers and biases affecting underrepresented voices in the music industry and Academy, including women and people of color.

Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow reflects, “I thank Tina and all of the participants for their hard work and follow through on the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.  The task force was key in reviewing and helping us get this new member model off the ground after many years of internal development.  It is through an industry-wide dedication on this scale that we see true transformation.”

Ultimately, the move to a yearly membership model cycle, creates a unique opportunity to celebrate the talented individuals who make up the music community and recognize the creative endeavors that enable it to thrive. The new model also more closely reflects the peer-driven process behind the GRAMMY Awards, as Kelley Purcell, Senior Director of Member Outreach points out.
 
"Membership is the lifeblood of the Recording Academy and a privilege we strive to uphold," says Purcell. "This evolved model puts the power in the hands of music professionals to recommend who among their peers they think should be a member and will help ensure the Academy represents the breadth and depth of talent synonymous with the recording industry. The GRAMMY Awards are already renowned for being a peer-awarded honor, and now our membership model also reinforces that peer-driven commitment to excellence."

The class of invitees will have until voting ballot deadlines to accept their invitation and participate in the 62nd GRAMMY Awards, set to take place Jan 26, 2020 in Los Angeles.

Our new peer-driven membership model is just one more way that the Recording Academy is evolving while also encouraging other industry companies to reinvent their own long-standing practices," said Segura Mueller. "We are nurturing a more inclusive organization for our members today and for generations to come."

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ASCAP Makes Disaster Relief Donation To MusiCares

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Donation will help music community members most affected by the fires
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Dec 27, 2018 - 11:59 am

Performing rights organization ASCAP announced on Dec. 18 that it is donating to MusiCares to support music's creators including those "affected by the recent wildfires in northern and southern California" needing help with food, shelter and replacement of instruments or equipment.

"We are truly grateful for the support and ongoing partnership of ASCAP," said Recording Academy and MusiCares President/CEO Neil Portnow. "Their work on behalf of music people is vital, and their generosity to the music community is equally strong. This donation demonstrates how the music industry works together to take care of their own."

"We have all been stunned by the devastation caused by the California fires and the heartache and loss suffered by our members who reside there," said ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams, winner of three GRAMMY awards as a songwriter. "ASCAP has always been an advocate for music creators, and faced with these terrible circumstances, we have their backs. We are pleased to work with MusiCares to get help to those who need it most."

Members may make disaster relief requests by contacting MusiCares toll-free at 1.800.687.4227.

For those wishing to donate, the "Gift Designation" choice at MusiCares' donation page offers "Disaster Relief" as a selection.

"The music community knows that it can turn to MusiCares in times of distress," said ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews. "They have the organization and the infrastructure necessary to respond to these horrible events and help members of the music community in times of need. We're glad to work with MusiCares once again to ensure that our funds reach the people most affected by the fires."

Learn Why "She Is The Music" & ASCAP's Female Songwriting Camp Felt "Essential"