Music

Today (Apr. 17), the Latin Grammys announced their return to Miami to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the award show, set to take place Thursday, Nov. 14.

It’s the second big announcement by the Latin Academy in the past few weeks. In late March, the Academy announced it was adding new categories to the awards: best contemporary Mexican music album and best Latin electronic music performance.

Addition of the best contemporary Mexican music album in particular was heralded by many as a positive reaction to longstanding criticism that the Latin Grammys don’t fairly represent regional Mexican artists and music, particularly in the “Big Four” categories: album, record and song of the year and best new artist.

The new category also highlights how the Academy can respond swiftly to changes in the market. In the past 12 months, regional Mexican music (or Música Mexicana), as many use to refer to the many genres of Mexican music, has flooded the Billboard charts (including the Hot 100). Much of the activity has come from particularly new and often very young artists, whose brand of music reflects a more “contemporary” artistic and personal outlook.

The Academy made another major change, stating that if a category does not get enough entries, its status can change. This brings the Latin Grammys in line with the regular Grammys, which has long had such a rule.

In order to have the standard five nominees, each category needs at least 40 distinct artist entries. “If a category receives between 25 and 39 entries, only three recordings will receive nominations in that year,” the rules now read. “Should there be fewer than 25 entries in a category, that category will immediately go on hiatus for the current year and entries will be screened into the next most logical category. If a category receives fewer than 25 entries for three consecutive years, the category will be discontinued, and submissions will be entered in the next most appropriate category.”

That change, buried underneath news of the new categories, is actually crucial, as it ensures competitiveness for the entire field of nominees. With that in mind, here are three other arenas where the Latin Academy would benefit from additional change.

1. Reduce the number of nominations in the “Big Four” categories.

In 2012, the Latin Grammys bumped the number of nominees in each of their Big Four categories from five to 10. We see little value in this increase. The result is a bloated list of nominees that often reads like a list of trying to please everyone, which effectively dilutes the merits of the big nominees. The Latin Grammys’ jump from five to 10 was emulated by the Recording Academy in 2022, when it also raised the number of Big Four nominees from eight to 10 (the categories only had five nominees up until 2017). That experiment lasted all of two years: In 2023, the Academy announced it was going back to eight nominees in each of the big categories — still way too much, but better than the 10 that make our eyes glaze over at the Latin Grammys.

2. How about those nominating committees?

In 2021, the Grammys eliminated their controversial nominations review committees, leaving them in place only for “craft” categories that require special know-how (think categories like best music film or best engineered album).

But the Latin Grammys have not eliminated the vast majority of its committees, leaving the fate of many nominations in the hands of a select few. The Latin Academy’s website states that “in craft and other specialized categories, final nominations are determined by national nomination review committees comprised of voting members in the U.S. and International.” If the criteria for a nomination committee is “specialization,” why are there still committees deciding the fate of the Big Four categories?

With very limited exceptions (i.e. very specific categories like flamenco or vallenato), the rank and file of voters should decide who final nominees are.

3. Change the requirements for best classical music album category.

Classical music is universal, with the same repertoire performed by accomplished musicians around the globe. And yet, the requirements for this category state: “For the Latin Recording Academy, Classical Music albums are those in which participants are predominantly Latino composers, directors or performers in any of its forms: composition, performance, direction.” The Academy should modify this description by dropping the requirement that performers or directors be predominantly Latino, and instead focus on the importance of the composition itself as of Iber-American origin.

Narrowing this award to artists of Latin origin, regardless of the repertoire, dilutes the importance of both the award and its recipients. Latin artists should compete on equal footing — as, for example, Gustavo Dudamel, the conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has successfully done in the Grammy awards.